


Surrogacy Journey

by Thunderbird83



Category: Original Work
Genre: Accidents, Belly Kink, Car Accidents, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fire, Firefighters, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Murder, Pregnancy, Pregnant Sex, Sex Toys, Surrogacy, Teaching, Vaginal Sex, paramedicine, teacher, water rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:13:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 52,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24615088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunderbird83/pseuds/Thunderbird83
Summary: The story so far: Katherine becomes pregnant with twins, Joel and the other firefighters rescue people from car accidents, etc. While attending to a victim of a snowmobiling accident they bring him into the emergency room where his vitals plummet and he goes into cardiac arrest. A deputy takes the firefighters' statement attesting to the fact the victim didn't recover consciousness at all then tells them he is sure that there is a murderer loose in Stonehaven.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

Surrogacy Journey

Eight weeks pregnant Katherine Harrison stood in front of the dresser, looking at herself in the mirror. It was another day of teaching for her and Joel was dropping Kelsey off at a playgroup near his parents’ house. He drove back into the garage, put the keys in his pocket, then walked upstairs to see his girlfriend appraising herself in the mirror while Lucifer sat in the windowsill looking bored. 

“Hey sexy lady,” he smiled happily. “what are you doing?” 

“I’m hoping that I’ve got twins stuffed into my lady parts. How about you?” she turned to him, gave him a little kiss then went into the bathroom, pulling out her makeup kit. 

“Pretty much the same thing. I know that a big belly involves some creativity in the bedroom but that won’t be for a few months yet,” Joel caught the edge of her t-shirt. “why aren’t you dressed yet?” 

“Because I wanted to unveil something to you,” she pulled up her t-shirt to reveal a little protrusion at her waist. “what do you think?” 

“I think it’s back!” he kissed her playfully. “I also think it’s definite you’re carrying twins.” 

“Yeah, me too.” Katherine pulled at the drawstring on her makeup bag and picked up her eyeshadow brushes. She removed a large rectangular palette from the bottom drawer, opened it up, then selected a shadow color called antique violet. Joel watched her dab some color on the brush, shut one eye, then begin spreading it on her eyelid. 

“Two more weeks and you get ultrasound?” 

“Yeah, just to make sure they stayed there and to tell if it’s 2 or 3.” she selected a lighter color for her creases then applied her mascara. The teacher shut the bag with a rattle, folded back up the palette and put them away, giving Joel a little smirk playfully as she walked by him. 

“Nice. Well, you can bust out the maternity clothes again.” Katherine zipped herself into a skirt or tried to-the zipper would not go up all the way. She pulled off the skirt in pretend frustration, hanging it back in the closet and pulling out her storage bin under the bed. Joel watched with a wry grin while she pulled out her loose maternity pants and slid them on. 

“You look borderline with those on. You have a bump and yet you don’t.” he teased, lightly smacking her butt. 

“I know. It’s hard to be in borderline country. My tits hurt and I’m tired like the last time but I don’t feel any nausea.” Katherine checked herself in the mirror as she rustled around in the bin. A simple pair of navy knit pants came to her eyes so she pulled those on, put on her socks and a pair of simple black clogs. 

“Really? Your hormones would be all over the place right now.” Joel put his hands at her waist teasingly as she tried to bat him off. 

“You can never tell about the symptoms,” Katherine dug around and pulled on her button up burgundy shirt. “they are different with each pregnancy.” 

“True. After that morning sickness you had with Kelsey I was not happy that it carried on for you now. I remember how sick you were after you found out you were pregnant.” the morning sickness carried on like it had before which was in the evenings. Katherine was miserable but at least her sickness started at night after Kelsey had been put to bed. 

“Me too.” the teacher tucked in her shirt which caused her little bump to jut out. “It’s still early days and I might have it later on. It’s also widely variable but I probably will start feeling these suckers start moving about at 15 weeks or later.” 

“You’re on top of this aren’t you?” Joel laughed, pulling her down on the bed on top of him, untucking her shirt and making her dangle the little belly directly above him. “Looks big from this angle.” 

“Gee, thanks!” she giggled with him. “Don’t worry babies, he doesn’t mean that!” 

“Talking to the bump already? Sure sign you’re loony.” Katherine got off of him and tucked her shirt in again, looking in the mirror. The bump stuck out a little bit, about two inches at her waist but she would cover that with her blazer. “This June Kelsey is going to be two.” 

“She’s growing up quick,” it had been an ordeal to toilet train her but they’d managed to be successful. “seems like just yesterday she was inside me.” 

“I know. Well, you have to go to work.” 

“Not so fast, lover boy. I bought a sex toy and I am going to try wearing it all day just to drive you mad.” she remembered the For Girls Only ball set and dug it out of the top drawer of the bureau. Taking the attached balls out of the little velvet pouch she dangled them in front of Joel, picking up a small bottle of lube. 

“What are those?” 

“Pelvic weights,” she lubed them up and slipped off her underwear, giving Joel a little show as she pushed one up inside her then slowly pushed the other one up. Her pelvic muscles quickly swallowed the toy whole and with plenty of lube slipped right up inside her. “right up in there like a greased pig.” 

“You are an evil woman.” Joel, still sitting on the edge of the bed, drew her to him, putting his hands on her butt, looking at her waist jutting out slightly from under her skirt. 

“I’m a seductive temptress,” she mocked him, leaning backwards so the little bump stuck out a little more. The firefighter found himself getting rock hard so he unbuttoned a button on the shirt, then stuck his tongue over her navel which made her gasp. “you’re so amazing with that tongue.” 

“If you can tease me I can tease you.” the tongue flicked at her belly button again, both hands on each side of the bump. 

“Now I don’t want to go and teach.” 

“You should.” 

“Fuck you.” 

“Oh you will.” he buttoned her shirt back up as she pulled away. 

“Know what? I have my toy up inside me all day where you wish you could be. I can work my muscles and make it move up and down all day long. There’s plenty of lube in there so I’ll have a great time and maybe get off during lunch,” she winked at him. “think of me at 12.” 

“Evil..” Joel pouted as she left, laughing all the way. 

**

The firefighter looked up at the pictures on the wall as he walked into the living room an hour later. Kelsey at her first Thanksgiving and Christmas, Easter with the Easter bunny at the mall, her with her doting grandparents and Dawn, her favorite auntie. 

Tossing himself on the couch, Joel thought about the past year… 

Three weeks postpartum Katherine had become sick. Her Crohn’s disease did not like the hormones going downhill after being at such a high level for so long. She endured a flare up that lasted for about two months, the rest of the summer, and had to go in for a procedure. Joel did not like leaving Kelsey with his mom as she was almost 4 months old but Katherine needed him with her. The teacher had undergone a routine colonoscopy to assess the state of her disease and Joel had been in the little recovery area when she had been returned. 

He’d been a little taken aback even though he knew what to expect. Katherine under sedation was not what he wanted to see. When she was asleep naturally she had a bit of a glow around her, a comforting aura that he always liked seeing when he woke up. When she was sedated she lost the glow and looked like an unconscious caricature of herself. Joel had sat down, grabbed her hand, mindful of the IV that was in it, and read a book until she started showing signs of wakefulness. 

It was hard for her to wake up but then again it always was for anyone who had been sedated. He’d talked her through it so by the time her gastroenterologist came by she was more or less awake. The prognosis had been good, they tried a new medicine out on her and the illness came back under control within two months. 

The next person to get sick was Joel. After Christmas last year he’d fallen ill with a bad strep infection and was laid up for a few days while the drugs he’d been given started to work. It seemed pretty minor after Katherine’s major illness but then again he was glad he wasn’t her. 

The firefighter ruminated some more, reliving Kelsey’s milestones. She’d begun to walk and talk at the appropriate times, become a precocious little baby, and as soon as she was able to run she’d launch herself at her father’s legs, hugging them and saying Daddy over and over again. Joel smiled to himself, knowing that being called Daddy was one of the sweetest things in his life and a joy to experience. 

Now the fact that Katherine was expecting again and not by him gave him something more to think about. He had been fine with her doing gestational surrogacy but now he’d been a little envious of the fact that his spunk wasn’t cooking in her oven for the next nine months. But he understood when she said they needed to space out their children a little more. They had to get to know Kelsey for at least another year before they decided on more children. 

In the meantime Katherine had posed the question of gestational surrogacy to him and while his response was hesitant, the promise unbridled sex for nine months and Katherine getting paid to carry was a good deal. They weren’t poor by any means but some extra cash on the side would come in helpful at some point. 

That morning Katherine had given him proof that she was carrying twins and he had to admit to himself that he had a serious fetish for Katherine’s growing pregnant belly. They had both missed it during the past year and Katherine would have gleefully jumped into another pregnancy but her GI cautioned against it. He wanted her to heal and go into remission first. Unwilling to go against doctor’s orders Katherine had done exactly what he wanted her to. As soon as she got the all clear she had willingly signed up with the agency and found a couple. She was inseminated promptly and now she had a little belly starting. 

“Amazing how life changes.” he got up and went downstairs into the workout room, deciding to do some time on the treadmill.

Just like when she was pregnant with Kelsey, Katherine had her ‘evening’ sickness to cope with, some mood swings, a little cramping and a sore chest. As the time wore on there was some eventual spotting amongst other things going on. It was odd to Joel how her evening sickness hadn’t intensified due to the increased hormonal load her body was dealing with. She didn’t whine or carry on about her condition; she just went forth with her normal life. 

**

Katherine’s professional life had changed as well. A new kindergarten teacher had taken over and Katherine was promoted to dealing with third graders. Her classes were quiet, studious and disciplined. Her students were intelligent, quick, and one of the best behaved classes in the school. She taught music from the kindergarten level up to the fifth graders and had no complaints about her professional life any more. 

While the class was at lunch Katherine graded papers then sat with her phone for a minute, adjusting the camera to the wide angle, hitching up her shirt and taking a picture. She took a picture of her bump covered from the side and from her view looking down, then one uncovered looking down as well. Nobody had noticed her bump because she had worn her blazer unbuttoned which gave the illusion that she was still slim. 

Now she tucked her shirt back in, fastened the button on the blazer which made her little belly stick up a tiny bit. 

“Can’t believe I’ve got two babies in me now,” she muttered happily. “I’m going to get so huge.” 

The teacher remembered that she had her ball toy put up inside her and she’d used a little too much lube; a little bit of it just dripped down from her orifice. Katherine was plenty slick inside and definitely raring to go but it would have to wait until Kelsey went to bed. In the meantime she worked her vaginal walls, making the balls go up and down. Concentrating, Katherine geared up and bore down on the balls, trying to see if she could push them all the way out. Thanks to the excessive lube Katherine was able to slide the balls down so they just peeked out of her vagina. Grinning to herself she would have to show Joel that when she returned home. 

The bell rang and she stood up in front of the blackboard, feeling the weights rattle around inside her. 

“All right, next up is our American Constitution!” she took up a chalk piece and wrote the words on the blackboard. 

**

Around 3 PM Joel went and retrieved Kelsey from her grandparents’ house, put her on the couch with him and both watched some kid oriented programs for an hour. The doting dad gave his daughter a snack, read to her from the books they owned, then looked up with a smile as Katherine arrived home from school. 

“Mama!” she hugged her mother’s legs as Katherine laughed, disengaging her and swinging her up in her arms. The one-year-old’s pretty blue eyes, so like her father’s, riveted themselves on her mother, giving her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. Joel smiled in the background as Katherine flushed a little pink and greeted her daughter happily, setting her briefcase down near the table. 

“How’s my sweet cutie?” 

“Good!” Katherine had buttoned her blazer top to distract Joel and he did not fail to notice as Katherine was holding Kelsey, drawing the fabric of the blazer tight. The teacher turned in his direction, the button riding a little high, and the firefighter wanted to run his hands on the bump and tongue it like he had that morning. 

“Let’s get some supper going, shall we?” she put Kelsey on the couch with a few toys, went into the kitchen and began to make supper when Joel ambushed her from behind as she took a pot out of the cupboard. “Oh, you’re here?”

Haha,” he slid his hands onto the small of her back, each one circling around from behind, coming to rest at her blazer. “you can’t conceal this from me.” 

“Oh, belly time already?” Joel tried to pull it open but Katherine stopped him. “It hasn’t gotten any bigger since this morning, buster. Besides I still have those balls inside me. I worked them all day so I’d be ready for you.” 

“I love a lady who comes prepared to the bedroom.” he teased her, tickling her shoulder to make her giggle. 

“I know. Come on; with two hands this will go faster.” 

About 30 minutes later Joel hoisted Kelsey into her high chair and gave her supper. The adults chattered and ate, often glancing over and grinning at the baby’s antics, making silly faces. 

“All right, you get to clean up tonight, Joel, Mama wants a little TV time.” she flopped onto the couch, whipped out her briefcase and graded the day’s homework, listening to the TV in the background. Joel was seated next to her, going over paperwork for teaching some new recruits that were set to train with him. Kelsey scuttled around on the floor, playing with her wooden blocks until Katherine looked up at 7 PM and said it was bedtime. 

Kelsey whined a bit, saw that Katherine wasn’t buying it, then gave up trying to argue. The teacher was attempting to teach Kelsey to brush her teeth which met with mixed results. Finally she put Kelsey in a sleeper, set her in the crib and wished her goodnight. 

“Night, sweetie.” she turned out the light and shut the door. Joel sneaked up on Katherine and goosed her, making her jump. “Oh you!” 

“Come on, let’s get that blazer off of you and have a fun romp without worrying about my swim team knocking you up again.” Joel took her by the blazer button, gently urging her into the bedroom with a funny smile on his face. They shut the door, Katherine kicked off her shoes, then Joel took her by the shoulders, gently tossed her onto the bed then landed next to her. 

“Well, I’ve had this round button sticking in my mind since you came home,” the firefighter ran his hands up the sides of Katherine, taking the button in both hands, undid it and watched it part the fabric, falling down and making way for the small rounded bump that sat at Katherine’s waist. The bump was still hidden from his eyes so he pulled down her pants, opened her shirt, then ran his tongue over it, kissing it, making Katherine gasp. 

“Is this a new thing of yours?” she asked as Joel undid her shirt the rest of the way and pushed it off. 

“Funny thing is I was reading about sex in my medical book and it mentioned that one of the erogenous zones was in the belly itself. It’s one of the five nerve endings that goes directly down to your clit.” 

“Medical books tell all don’t they?” 

“They certainly take some guesswork out of the gray areas,” Joel started working his way up. “even though you have two babies not related to us cooking in there I will still love the bump. My only complaint now is that it’s too small.” 

“It’s going to get bigger you know. This is just the beginning.” her nausea surged and Katherine had to made a dash for the bathroom for a minute. Joel wanted to ask her if she was all right but he knew the answer. He heard a flush, running water, then a little groan. Katherine reappeared, looking like she’d lost a bit of color but she wasn’t going to let her evening sickness ruin her night. The firefighter looked a little concerned but he’d learned that with Katherine, if he wasn’t bothered about something he wasn’t supposed to be bothered either. 

After a few minutes of making out Joel trailed a hand down the little bump and stuck it between her legs, a little confused when he felt something. He paused mid kiss, “What is that?” 

“That’s my toy. I managed to get it halfway out I was so horny all day, thinking of your dick.” 

“Can I fuck you with it in?”

“You can but I don’t want you to. Give it a few flicks.” he obediently did so, sending the little weights inside the balls spinning crazily. 

“Oh yeah!” she arched her back.

“I may read medical books all the time but you’ve had more of the learning,” the firefighter started laughing. “should I pull it out?” 

“Yeah! Slide yourself right in there and sharpen your pencil!” the two of them started laughing. Joel happily unzipped his pants, grasped Katherine by her shoulders and went to town on her lips. The enthusiastic moaning was low so they didn’t wake Kelsey up much to their mutual relief. 

When they were done, Katherine exhaled in post orgasmic joy then looked at Joel deep in his blue eyes. “So it turns out that the parents don’t want to meet their surrogate-it’s all through the doctor and I’ll be going solo to the appointments and such.” 

“What? They should at least meet you and thank you for your service to them!” the firefighter looked indignant. 

“Darlin’, that means you can come to the appointments if you want to.” she reassured him. “I can do it alone or with you; I’m a strong girl.” 

“Well, they’re not my kids but I’ll support you.” 

“Good,” she took his hand and dragged it along her little bump. “it’s not a requirement and from what the doctor said their previous surrogate took all their cash and the baby so I understand.” 

“Can they do that?” 

“Apparently they can. The biological mom can still claim legal custody; you have to waive parental rights at birth to surrender it as per my understanding. The money part of it was in the contract; twenty grand to carry and deliver and that’s what she got. What this state allows is a 24 hour period in which a mom can make up her mind on what to do.” 

“There won’t be any second guessing with you, right?” Joel kissed her hand then pulled the blanket over both of them. The teacher curled up to her boyfriend, her head on his chest with a sigh of delight. 

“Not at all. I committed and signed the contract so I’m set and done. No turning back.” 

“Good.” he yawned, kissed Katherine on top of the head as they both fell asleep quickly. 

**

Two weeks later Katherine opened up her nightshirt in the bathroom while Joel brushed his teeth beside her. The long pale pink button up maternity nightgown had seen her through a pregnancy with Kelsey and she hoped it would withstand her current pregnancy with twins. She was starting to show a little more which definitely caught Joel’s eye. 

“Wow, that’s looking pretty good right now.” Joel rinsed out. 

“With every pregnancy comes the ceremonial mourning of the body going to seed in a nine month twin fat suit. I have an ultrasound today, I’m ten weeks now and I’m impressed with this belly.” the bump had gone from a little two inch swelling under her waist to a more rounded curve. 

“I think so. You have a football up there considering.” he snapped a picture. 

“In about five weeks they might start moving. Now you’re on shift today so refresh my memory, who’s in charge of Kelsey?” 

“You are,” he told her with a little grin. “it’s Saturday.” 

“Oh! My ultrasound though.” 

“That’s Monday. You’ll be 10 weeks and 2 days for the scan. You got forgetful pregnancy brain going on.” 

“My bad!” she shut the drawer that was full of her makeup. “I can go without makeup today!” 

“Well yeah. I expected it. I’ve got to get dressed and feed Kelsey now.” he left the bathroom as Katherine opened up her maternity wear storage container, slipped on a pair of pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt which was actually one of Joel’s old work t-shirts, and walked into the living room. 

“All right, Kelsey, Dad’s got to go to work now so be good for your mom, OK?” the firefighter hoisted Kelsey out of the high chair and settled her on the floor with a few toys. “You look good in my old shirt, hot stuff!” 

“Yeah I know!” Katherine gave him a seductive look from the couch, batting her eyes at him. 

“Going to be good today?” Joel kissed his daughter’s cheek.

“Yes, Daddy!” the little girl chirped, more interested in her toy doll.

“That’s my girl.” he stood up, winked, grabbed his keys and overnight bag, leaving his two ladies to their own devices. 

“So what are we doing today, girlie?” Joel’s shirt was big on her; he was broad in the shoulder which meant she couldn’t keep the shirt on her shoulders when she wore it. 

Kelsey wanted to watch a kids’ movie which Katherine allowed, choosing a Disney princess flick which they watched until lunchtime. She fed the baby, put her down for an hour long nap, started teaching her colors and words for a few hours until the baby got frustrated and Katherine let her stop. The baby pulled herself up by the coffee table while Katherine worked on grading papers and setting lesson plans for the next week, allowing Kelsey to pull open the bottom cupboards in the kitchen and playing with pots and pans. 

Apparently Katherine had done that herself when she was Kelsey’s age which she had no problem believing. The baby had pulled out the pots and was enjoying throwing them around, lifting up a small pot and putting it on her head. Katherine gave her a wooden spoon, teaching her to drum on the pots, muffling laughter at how ludicrous she looked. The teacher snapped a picture and sent it to Estelle. 

That afternoon Katherine resumed the little school session for an hour, made supper for them, then at 7 sharp put Kelsey to bed. Feeling more tired than usual due to all the energy she was burning growing 2 new lives, she crashed out as well. 

She woke up at 9 PM, roused by a nausea attack, went to the bathroom and emptied her stomach. Shakily she cleaned up, put everything away, then leaned into the bedroom mirror, examining her forlorn look. Evening sickness wasn’t glamorous, it wasn’t talked about that much and Katherine still didn’t understand why exactly it was called ‘morning’ sickness when a lot of women experienced it at nighttime. 

“This is one part of pregnancy that I could do without,” she sighed unhappily, turning off the light. The teacher clambered into bed, lying faceup with both hands on her waist. “I hope you two in there appreciate the hard work my body’s doing!” 

**

Around midnight that night Joel was dispatched to a call, a car accident not far from a notorious nightclub. The Aces had a reputation for sleazy strippers every Tuesday and raunchy music from 10 to 5 AM. It was the epitome of bad clubs in Joel’s opinion. Back when he’d been single and Charlie was alive he’d brought Joel there just once and he’d been appalled by it. The club had all the hallmarks of being bad-surly bartenders, strippers in cheap makeup and sloppy costumes, etc. Lowlifes of all kinds haunted there, getting screwed by the overpriced drinks, the girls didn’t know how to properly lap dance, that sort of thing. Joel privately thought the place was owned by really cheap people who focused on scamming money out of patrons and didn’t care about quality. 

“The Aces, huh?” Joel’s partner was Steven Gleason the ex military man. “That place is so damn expensive for a guy and screws you in more ways than one!” the redhead jumped into the cab of the ambulance while Joel got in beside him. With lights flashing they set off to the scene. 

“You been there?” 

“Only once-my first and last time!” Steve chuckled, making a turn into the side street. “Cheap hookers smelling like rancid perfume and smeared makeup!” 

“Aren’t you married?” Joel grabbed the granny handle just above the door as the ambulance swayed. Steve was a bit of a risk taker on the road which never failed to make him uncomfortable though they’d never had an accident. 

“Hey relax there, Joel! I used to be a Humvee driver on base! But yeah; it was when Nicki and I were undergoing a trial separation.” 

“Oh,” Joel couldn’t say any more than that. “your predecessor was going out with a bartender from here before he died. Never did have much taste in his women.” 

“Probably liked those big bazonga girls and dated on looks not brains. But how’s Katherine doing? Did the experiment work?”

“What experiment?” 

“The IVF! I call it an experiment when you don’t officially know the outcome,” Steve clarified. “how about the results?” 

“Oh! Well, she’s definitely pregnant again. A few weeks ago she showed me a little belly on her so we know she’s on the right track.” 

“That’s great!” 

“Yeah but I got to say that the parents are acting weird. Why on earth would they want no contact with the surrogate prior to birth? I would want to see her at the ultrasounds and everything to make sure that the babies are all right.” 

“Well, say the people had been screwed over-lots of surrogates change their minds and keep the babies for themselves,” Steve said rationally. “I think that as a way to protect themselves from getting ripped off again it’s totally natural, don’t you?” 

“It makes sense on some level but that doesn’t mean that Katherine’s going to screw them like the previous girl did.” Joel still couldn’t get over why the parents acted the way that they did. Steven shot him a sideways glance but didn’t resume that conversation, pulling up to the car accident scene in almost no time at all. 

“Let’s punch in!” the ex military man trumpeted, grabbing his tackle box full of gear, putting it onto the gurney. Joel unstrapped the restraints, grabbed a pair of rubber gloves and walked over to the scene, unsure of what he would be finding.


	2. Chapter 2

The car accident scene was nothing that Joel wasn’t already used to. It looked like an SUV rear ended a sedan, sent them over the guardrail and smacked into a telephone pole on the passenger side. The SUV had little damage-a front bumper had been warped and would need replacing. The driver was currently talking to the police while another deputy waved Joel and Steven over to the smashed sedan on the side of the road. 

“Your buddy with the engine will be here in a short moment.” was all the deputy said. 

“Thanks. How’s Sylvia doing?” 

“She retired last month, Joel. Had enough of all the crime and whatnot. She moved to Dover with her family but she certainly remembers you and your girlfriend well.” 

“Oh nice,” Joel peered into the sedan while Steve snapped on a pair of gloves. “anyone in here?” 

He heard a feeble moan from the front seat which was in complete darkness. “Steve, put a light in here.” 

Their patient, a young woman with blood streaming down the side of her face, was lying on her side in the driver’s seat. Joel and Steve called to her but didn’t get a response. Ben came up in the fire engine and together they started using the jaws of life to remove all the bent and twisted metal so they could get in and attend to the patient. 

“Ma’am, can you tell us your name?” Ben, wiry like a wildcat, managed to get into the wreck, flip down the glovebox and check the vehicle registration. “Looks like a Madeline Littleton. Would sure be helpful if we got an ID on her for sure!” he radioed dispatch to try to identify their patient while Steve put the jaws of life away and helped Joel with the backboard. 

Ben rapidly assessed their patient’s condition, putting her neck in a brace and keeping her as still as possible. Once they had her strapped in he checked her again, noting some possible broken ribs. 

“Check in the car to see if she has a purse, a phone or anything!” Ben hollered back to Joel who obeyed. 

“Right!” there was nothing in the car and without any positive ID on the victim they had to put her in the system as a Jane Doe for now. Steve cleaned off the minor wounds and bandaged them up, Joel got a set of vitals on the young woman while Ben was still checking with dispatch on possible identity. 

“I still can’t get anything like a positive ID on the girl here,” Ben shrugged helplessly. “put her in as a JD like the rest of them. I’ve got to head back to the firehouse. See you in about 6 hours.” 

“Thanks for the help, Ben.” Steve shut the doors. “Got everything here OK?”

“Yeah. Her vitals are a little elevated but that’s normal,” Joel told him. “she doesn’t have anything life threatening-her breath sounds and heart are fine. We can proceed normally.” 

“Non emergent,” Steve understood. “let me know when to speed it up.” 

“Will do.” the paramedic got into the ambulance and began to drive for the hospital. Joel put on a fresh pair of gloves and cut the victim’s clothes off to assess for any more damage. 

The victim had a killer body-not an inch of fat on her anywhere, she was lavishly endowed and didn’t look older than her mid twenties. Joel could appreciate how great her body looked but that was as far as his mind would let him travel. Maintaining the professional exterior was what he had to do and he could do it but there was a bit of physical attractiveness in his gaze. 

Besides looks were only skin deep. He removed her bra and spied a few surgical scars, obviously she’d had her bust enlarged which told him she had some physical insecurity about her looks. Joel checked her chest, looking for broken ribs and detected a few of them. Unfortunately he couldn’t do anything about them and since her lung sounds were fine he didn’t think she’d suffered any lung damage as a result. Her left wrist was turning a little red and swollen so he checked that as well, discovering the ulna was completely broken. 

Expertly he splinted the wrist, checked vitals again, covered her up in a blanket then was entering in her information when he heard a moan. The girl’s eyes opened enough for him to see they were dark blue, rather like his own. 

“What’s your name?” Joel asked her right off the bat. 

“M.. Madeline..” she croaked, thinking that the paramedic was a fine looking young man and she was really fortunate to be under his care. 

“Are you the owner of the car?”

“Yeah.. that’s my car..” 

“Good. What’s your birthday?” 

“March 20, 1997.” he keyed that in, confirmed her address, then gave her the lowdown on her injuries. 

“Did you strip me down?”

“I had to so I could check you for any more injuries.” Joel said matter-of-factly. 

A flush rose to her cheeks. Joel wrote that off to her being embarrassed to be seen in the buff by a stranger but her next question was, “See anything you like?” 

The paramedic shot her a hard look, clearly asking her why she would be asking that in the nonverbal sense but the look seemed to be completely lost on her. Madeline was looking at him like a predator eyeballing its prey. Joel realized that she thought of herself as a hot commodity and was eyeing him like he would be her next conquest. Madeline clearly had an overinflated ego, thinking she was all that and could have a guy if she wanted him because pretty girls like her were catered to. 

The worst thing he could do was acknowledge the comment so he ignored it altogether. Keying in her address and information in the system gave him her job title which was a stripper at The Aces club. Truthfully it didn’t surprise him one bit; Joel avoided her eyes until he had to take a new set of vital signs again. She followed his every move with a cold blue gaze that didn’t let up. 

“We’re almost there.” he turned back to the little console. 

“You didn’t answer my question.” she said commandingly.

“I have a girlfriend and a daughter.” Joel retorted. 

“That’s what they all say.” he rolled his eyes. 

“Steve how far are we?” god he wanted to be away from the vacuous young woman. 

“Two minutes! Pulling up now!” 

Madeline was handed over to the emergency department without incident, tagged with an ID band and moved into a room. The emergency room was surprisingly not busy that night considering that it was the weekend, but not the full moon either. 

Steve whistled as they got back into the ambulance, driving it back to the firehouse. “God, that woman! She’s got a killer bod but a menacing look in those eyes!” 

“She’s a stripper at The Aces club,” Joel told him. “she tried to come onto me!” 

“I’m not surprised. Those girls, despite being really shoddy and cheap in their costumes and makeup, act like a bunch of entitled brats. They get what they want or there’s hell to pay. How did you react to her?” 

“I told her that I have a girlfriend and daughter and that was it. I refused to engage.” 

“Good for you!” Steve told him heartily. “Just like denying a fire oxygen; it takes two to fight or whatever but take yourself out of the equation and she’ll just sit and stew in it. Besides there’s a camera in the ambulance which records every move.” 

“It’s been a godsend in some cases,” Joel replied, thinking of the time when a patient accused one of them of doing something wrong. The ambulance camera had backed them up; they’d done nothing wrong so the potential lawsuit was dropped. “we need all the insurance we can get.” 

“Against stupid idiots who think they know better than us.” Steve agreed. 

**

The rest of the shift was filled with nonemergency calls. Ben, Steve and Joel went out to several calls for drunks, stoners, etc. by the time they were done they weren’t very tired, having expended little energy on any calls so they were able to enjoy the sunrise coming up. 

“I want to get coffee but I need a good nap,” Joel yawned, climbing into the Explorer. “see ya in two days.” 

“Likewise.” the others left the parking lot. 

Katherine woke up at about 8 AM, knowing that Joel would be coming home in about an hour. She threw off the covers and glancing down at her little bump, sat up and got up without an issue. With the unconfirmed twins dangling over her head she knew she would be in for an interesting ride in the coming months. 

“I think it’s time we head to church,” she attended once a month with Kelsey. Joel needed quiet time to have a nap and unless he locked the door Kelsey would pester him. “come on, my little rugrat!” 

Kelsey fussed at first but soon became happy after she was fed. Katherine got her ready for church, dressed herself, then was applying a little makeup when Joel stumbled home, looking distinctly tired. 

“Hey babe. There’s leftovers in the fridge when you’re ready.” she gave him a kiss, putting her brush away and steering him into the bedroom. “We are heading to church now to give you some alone time.” 

“You’re so perfect for me,” he mumbled. “I had a stripper last night try to come on to me in the ambulance.” 

“Ugh,” Katherine empathized. “you’re better than that. Besides I got you first.” 

He giggled. “You certainly did.” 

“To sleep with you now,” the teacher kissed Joel, making him lie down on the bed. “just relax.” 

“Mama!” Kelsey called. 

Katherine sighed. “I knew I never should have given birth to her. It was easier when I was pregnant with her as opposed to now.” Joel giggled at her remark. 

“Coming, rugrat!” she left the room. 

**

Church went by swiftly; Estelle was the monitor of the playgroup in one of the Sunday school classrooms so she could watch her granddaughter and several other kids too young to understand sermons. Katherine played piano for the congregation, occasionally switching to the organ when it was needed. 

Joel woke up an hour after the rest of the family came home. He enjoyed quiet time with Kelsey, helping teach her simple numbers and letters, rewarding her with a short little Youtube video of some of her favorite kids’ characters on TV shows. Katherine finished her classwork, setting lesson plans for the next week, finished grading papers, then curled up with Joel on the couch. Kelsey crashed out at about 2 PM for a nap, sitting on the leather armchair while her parents watched a movie on TV for the rest of the afternoon. 

Monday came around before they knew it. Katherine had her ultrasound scheduled for 8 AM so she was going to miss a little of the workday. Joel had to attend a few classes at the local college to keep his paramedic license current so he wasn’t able to go with her. 

“Today’s the day to determine how many you’ve got in there,” Joel pulled Katherine into a hug, feeling her bump press against him. “remind me how many weeks you are?” 

“Ten weeks and 2 days. I’m not looking forward to getting the probe stuffed up my lady parts.” 

“That’s all part of the process,” she drew away from him while Joel glanced down to see her shirt was unbuttoned. “usually by this stage I start showing which is fine. I don’t think you’ll be able to convince me that I’m not having twins.” 

“You wouldn’t be able to convince me either.” he buttoned up her shirt and tucked it into the navy pants she was wearing. 

“Well, I’m off.” Katherine grabbed her coat, purse and briefcase then left the house. 

At the doctor’s office, the ultrasound technician had Katherine remove her pants, underwear, then put her legs up in the stirrups. The tech covered Katherine for modesty’s sake, put some lubrication on the probe, then eased it into Katherine. 

“Wow, your uterus is already pretty big in there,” the tech remarked, pressing some keys for a closer look. “oh yes, look at that.” 

Katherine turned on the exam table to see the monitor better. “So what am I looking at exactly?” 

“Two placentas, each with a little baby in them. Looks like two of the embryos took root all right. One on the left, one on the right. They’ve got plenty of room in there.” it looked like two little balloons with tiny forms inside each one. 

“God, my uterus is turning into a funhouse. Won’t be long before they start turning my junk into a bouncy castle.” 

“Let’s see if we can get another close look,” the tech removed the intrauterine probe and switched to the more conventional one, pulling down Katherine’s shirt and exposing her little belly. “I’ve seen bigger ones at ten weeks!” 

“Oh no!” Katherine chuckled. “I’m glad to hear I’m textbook normal on that part. When do they start moving?” 

“That can be as early as 15 weeks. It’s pretty much the same as any other pregnancy. You’ve had a baby before, right?” 

“Yeah.” 

“In the hospital?” there was no record of a hospital delivery in the system. Joel had submitted his paramedic report of the birth instead. 

“No, my boyfriend’s a paramedic and he delivered me at home. It was a mutual agreement.” Katherine felt the probe touch down on her skin, wincing because it was cold. While she enjoyed being pregnant the physical exams were something that she definitely didn’t like. 

“Oh good,” the tech smiled. “you’ll notice some movement earlier on because you’ve done this all before. When did your first baby start moving?” 

“I think it was 21 weeks or so. Now she’s a little harridan who will be two in June.” 

“Wow! You’ll be what, 5 months in June I think.” the tech pressed down on the little belly to see where the babies were. 

“I guess the third one didn’t take root like I hoped.” 

“No, it didn’t. But fear not; the parents will have two babies to love. I get to email them this image,” a few more keys were pressed and an email was sent off. “everything looks great in there.” 

“Wonderful.” the tech finished up, allowed Katherine to put her clothes back on, then gave her a printout for her records. 

“You know, there’s not a lot of information out there on surrogacy and you’re a high profile resident here,” the tech walked her to the door. “maybe with your influence with the band and such you can shed some light on the whole system of surrogacy.” 

“I might do that as soon as I start showing more. Good idea.” she left.

**

During the school day Katherine walked into the staff room to get a cool drink while her class was in the lunchroom. Denise, the assistant principal, walked over to her while sneaking a not too subtle glance at the teacher’s burgeoning belly. 

“Are you and Joel expecting again?” she asked lightly. 

“Well, that’s a bit of a story.” Katherine smoothed over her shirt, the fabric was static charged and clung to her flatteringly. 

“Oh, do tell!” 

“I heard one of the other teachers mention surrogacy while I was pregnant with my daughter and it’s something that will help me give the gift of life to other couples. I was thinking that I would bring some attention to surrogacy by doing a newspaper or gossip magazine article about it.” 

“You should do that!” Denise encouraged. “What month are you in?” 

“It’s what, March now? Ten weeks and three days.” 

“Good for you. Is it twins? It looks like it.” 

“Oh it is, Denise. What I’m worried about is any repercussions from doing a magazine article. Some people in the town might not get the sentiment and generosity even though I do get paid for it.” 

“I think the magnanimity of your gesture outshines any monetary gain from it.” 

“It sure does. I just don’t want this to reflect badly on the school, like what am I doing here being pregnant from someone not my boyfriend.” 

“Don’t think about it. For every action there’s a reaction true. I think the majority of it will be vastly positive in your case. Go and do it. I know someone at the Stonehaven Herald who is looking for some what they call puff pieces.” 

“Sounds like a good idea. The Herald is a good magazine and I’ll email as soon as I can.” 

“Do it now! You have a phone right there!” Denise teased. “I’ll give you the email address.” 

“OK, cool.”

“Well, you have your extracurricular assignment there, teacher,” Denise watched her fire off an email inquiry. “I expect to see this published soon!” 

“How soon is soon for you?”

“Say how about fifteen or twenty weeks?” 

“That will be a long time coming. I can prepare a rough draft in the meantime. Oh, now I have to go and teach music. See you later.” 

“See ya!” 

**

On March 17th, Katherine was getting ready to go out and play a gig with her cover band. Joel watched her get ready, standing at the bathroom mirror and putting on some more makeup. 

“So where are you playing tonight?” 

“Waterfall ballroom again at the hotel,” Katherine replied, putting dark emerald eyeshadow in the outer corner of her eyes. “can’t look too good under those hot lights.”

“What function is it this time?” 

“Beer brewery hosting a St. Patrick’s day event.” 

“So you’re now 13 weeks, right?” 

“Yes indeed. To your disappointment I haven’t grown that much. I can still fit in my green button up shirt and pants.” she teased him, capping the palette and putting it away. 

“So why do you put so much gunk on your face anyway?” Joel picked up her mascara tube and plunked it back down with a look of disgust. 

“So I look better under bright lights. I’m the ringleader for awhile and this girl needs to look really good.” she leaned into the mirror, brushed away a little clump on the end of one lash then glanced over at Joel teasingly. 

“You know you only need to look good for me, right?” 

“Well, sometimes I really like to dress it up,” he took her arms and put them behind his back. “I need to just keep myself looking top notch.” Katherine slid her hands down the small of his back, grinning at him devilishly. Joel felt her slip her hands underneath his belt then slide them to his front. 

“You only need to look top notch for me.” the firefighter purred into her ear, letting his hands slide down her sides and mirroring exactly what she was doing. 

“What would you have me looking like, hmm?” she tilted her head to one side teasingly while he dropped his gaze to her developing chest and midsection. 

“Well, how about a pure red eyeshadow look like an homage to your favorite firefighter? Some red and lots of glitter..” he leaned over her color palette and selected the deep red. “how about that with some silver and gold glitter, maybe the smokey eye look for me?” 

Katherine laughed, putting her makeup away. “If I had your way I’d be looking like a Picasso.” 

“Well, I’d put your nose down there near your mouth and put an eye directly on top of your nose so you can smell what you’re looking at a lot better..” he gave her a cheeky grin. “But anyway I put Kelsey down for the night so she won’t miss you. When do you leave?” 

“In about fifteen minutes.” she turned off the light and both went into the dining area where she found her purse and keys. 

“Have you been feeling all right?” Joel was more than eager to have the evening sickness attacks become a distant memory as she got further along. Katherine knew exactly how he was feeling; when he was home from the job she usually spoiled the mood by getting sick at night. The usual remedies only helped a little bit but she still had it rough. 

“Yeah. I’ll be fourteen weeks in a few days. I’ll be leaving the first stage behind and some symptoms are going to go away, mainly some nausea. I’m already starting to get some more energy back.” Joel watched her put her green shirt on then just to be a jerk, he lifted up the hem of her shirt and ran both hands over the little bulge. Katherine gasped because his hands were cold but gave him a knowing smile. 

“Good for you. So does this mean we get our sex life back?” the firefighter felt her put her hands on top of his to give him some of her warmth. 

“Of course. You know that I emailed the editor of the Stonehaven Herald and I will be doing a little article for them on surrogacy in the next week or two.” she popped her lipstick into her bag and picked it up. “Once I develop enough of a belly to stick out and brag about I’ll send a few pictures.” 

“I don’t know about that. You’re getting pretty big already.” 

“Oh you!” Katherine pulled on her coat, hooked her purse on one arm and kissed him goodbye.

“Can I read your article?” 

“Sure if you want. You can access it on my laptop. I’ve got to run and I’ll be back late.” she left the house. Joel went into the bedroom, pulled open the laptop on the desk then accessed the file she had stored on the hard drive. 

“Here it is: The gift of life,” he murmured, starting at the beginning. “When some people can’t have children biologically and want them who comes knocking at their door offering to lend some help in that direction? That would be the surrogates. Maine has a good number of them and are willing to hop on, take that burden and reward the parents with the gift of life. But there are hardly any in Stonehaven, just one or two people I believe. 

“Me makes three. I enjoyed being pregnant with my daughter very much but like all good things that came to an end when she was born. I love her dearly and while it’s too soon for me and my boyfriend to decide on more children at the moment, I decided to give back. My boyfriend is very understanding and supportive so I signed on with a surrogacy agency to help out a deserving couple. 

“One year after I had Kelsey, my sweet little girl, I got myself back in excellent shape and found the couple who approved of my character profile. I have a good record, one successful birth which made me more attractive as a candidate. The doctor performed the IVF process, I came in and was inseminated with three embryos; two of them took. The insemination procedure was actually quite boring; I lay on an uncomfortable exam table, the doctor put a needleless syringe up into my funny business and guided by ultrasound, she injected three embryos into my uterus. 

“Two weeks later I began to experience some telltale signs of pregnancy but more pronounced. I got tested and the hCG levels were quite high which for me confirmed the fact I was carrying multiples. The first trimester was no picnic but it was quite tolerable compared to my first pregnancy. The first time around I had morning sickness which definitely continued but my sickness got me in the evenings not the mornings. 

“At the ultrasound the tech declared officially that I was carrying two babies, it’s too soon to tell the gender yet, which made me very happy. As surrogates get paid my rates doubled for two intrauterine passengers. The journey is going to get interesting as I’ve never carried twins before and I can’t wait to see what will unfold for us over the next six months. 

“I would definitely encourage all females who are of childbearing age and are relatively free of health problems to explore this avenue. I am doing it not for the money but of the experience of being pregnant which I found myself missing after I gave birth to my daughter a year ago. Women who like being pregnant should definitely look into this like a side job. All healthcare is paid for by the parents, bear in mind that everyone’s experiences are definitely unique; my experience will not be like yours. 

“I remain excited to see where a pregnancy with multiples are going to take me in the next six months. Actually the average twin pregnancy has never gone to 40 weeks and I hope I can actually do that; carry to 40 weeks then give birth. Here’s hoping!” 

Joel giggled, turned off the laptop then got ready for bed. He had gotten as far as changing and brushing his teeth when he heard Kelsey call out for her mom from her room. 

“What’s up, buttercup?” he stood over the edge of the crib and peered down at her. Kelsey stood up in the crib, her blonde hair stood out in the low light from the night light in the corner. 

“Mama?” 

“No, Daddy,” Joel gently corrected her. “have a bad dream, cutie?” 

“Uh huh,” she dragged a sleeve across her eyes. “want Mama.” 

“Mama’s gone out but will be home soon. Come on honey, snuggle with me.” he lifted her out of the crib and sat down in the glider with Kelsey in his lap. The little girl curled up with her father, her bushy hair pressed against the lower part of his chest. 

“Not to worry, baby girl. Daddy’s not going to let you have any more bad dreams.” the firefighter said in a low voice. Kelsey only whimpered once then went to sleep with Joel following her not long after. 

Katherine came home about an hour later, grinning from ear to ear. She had pulled off another great gig with the cover band and she was thinking about the moment when she brought down the house doing a rendition of an Adele song. Those brewery boys didn’t know what hit ‘em, she thought happily as she pulled into the turnaround and parked the car. Walking across the driveway in her snow boots Katherine entered the security code into the system and unlocked the house. She stepped in, locked the house for the night and went upstairs. 

In the bedroom she undressed and put all her gear away, cautiously optimistic that her evening sickness had dissipated. Sometimes it dragged on as it seemed to do with Kelsey and she didn’t want that to happen with the twins. Katherine removed her makeup, washed her face, then went into the bedroom, unfastening her shirt. 

“Well where did my boyfriend go?” she hummed, walking across the hall and into Kelsey’s room. “Aww.” 

Joel was holding Kelsey in the glider, the little girl was fast asleep against her father. “Someone had a nightmare.” Katherine said in a whispered voice. She saw Joel reclining back in the glider, also asleep, and looking very quiet and serene. 

“Someone really needed to be a dad,” the teacher disengaged Kelsey from her father and gently put her back in the crib. The little girl stirred once and said mama again to which Katherine smiled and shushed her quietly. She turned around to survey Joel who hadn’t moved from his position. “Joel, come on, hon,” putting one hand on his arm she rubbed it briskly to wake him up without startling him. “time for bed.” 

The firefighter woke up slowly, glancing around him. “Kelsey’s in bed, darlin’. Come on, let’s head there ourselves.” he got up with a grunt, feeling stiff, then followed Katherine to the bedroom. 

“What are you thinking?” Joel got into bed as Katherine changed then slid into the bed next to him. 

“Seeing you with Kelsey like that just gets me thinking.” 

“About what?” 

“There isn’t another thing in this world I’d lift a finger to take,” she kissed Joel. “I swear I grew two extra hearts the day I met you and the day we met her.” 

“You’re in a good mood tonight,” he pushed her hair away from her face to kiss her again. “feeling more maternal are we?” 

“I guess so.” they both cuddled up to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

The next week Katherine got up lazily for school, went into the bathroom, knowing that she was officially 15 weeks pregnant now. Joel was in the shower, humming to himself before he went on shift at the firehouse. Kelsey was still in bed; Estelle was coming to spend the day with her while the parents went out to work. 

The teacher brushed her teeth, rolling her eyes at Joel’s off key singing in the shower but she did not discourage him in any way. Blearily she rubbed her eyes, blinked, then looked down at her robe which she’d left open. “Damn!” 

“What is it, honey?” 

“I seemed to have popped out overnight!” she looked like there was a soccer ball stuffed in her nightshirt. 

Joel finished up his shower, turning off the tap with a little squeak, grabbed his towel and dried off, knotting the towel around himself as he stepped out and came towards her. A sly grin overtook his features as he looked at her belly. 

“It’s ba-aaack..” he sang out. “That belly of yours looks like you are five months pregnant with Kelsey.” 

“Well, I guess that’s a great way of putting it. I need to change,” Joel watched her retreat into the bedroom, pull out a pair of pants and an empire waisted shirt but even with all the buttons done up it was still pretty obvious she was pregnant. “well, I’m sure my students will treat me like a science project.” 

“Oh yeah that’ll be fun for third graders,” Joel started laughing. “guess what week the teacher’s in! I’d like to see how many guess accurately you’ve got twins in there. When’s your next ultrasound appointment?” 

“That’s today actually. With twins they need more ultrasounds to make sure everything’s copacetic.” 

“What time?” 

“You wanna come? Or do you get off on seeing the doctor put her hands all over me?” she teased the firefighter, flipping up her shirt and flashing the belly at him. 

“I don’t know why I find you so damn sexy when you’re like this but I do. Maybe it’s your sexuality that’s even more pronounced while you’re pregnant. Got time for a quick one?” 

“Doggie?”

“Can you handle it?” in response Katherine pulled her pants off and presented her butt to him with girlish glee. 

“Sure I can’t hurt them?” 

“We had all that wild sex when I was pregnant with Kelsey and it didn’t matter-she’s fine. Sex won’t hurt the babies either.” she heard his zipper go down then felt him enter her. 

“Nothing like a quickie to make the day better!” 

**

Satisfied, Joel went off to the firehouse while Katherine met Estelle. “Gramma!” Kelsey squealed happily. Estelle picked her up with a laugh as Katherine gathered up her things. 

“My goodness Katherine, what happened to you? Did my son knock you up again so soon?” 

“There’s a bit of a story to that,” Katherine narrated how she became a surrogate and her insemination. Estelle looked shocked at first but soon softened her gaze with a smile. “I just want to give back and relive being pregnant again. I enjoyed it first time around.” 

“I’m glad you did. Joel’s on board with this?” 

“He is. He understands how I feel about it and told me that he often misses the belly that I had.” 

“He loved it as much as you did. I’m not saying that I don’t condone what you’ve done of course but there’s the special satisfaction that he had knowing that he was responsible for your condition.” 

Katherine nodded. “I get that. We behave like normal and he’s like a little kid; can’t keep his hands off my belly now.” 

“Now that you’ve popped out expect more comments about it. But anyway, good for you for doing something so important to two people! How far is it?” 

“I’m 15 weeks exactly.” 

“Good for you!” Estelle told her. “Surrogacy isn’t a well known option out here.” 

“I’m writing an article for the Herald magazine. I need some photos and I’ll be going to the studio tomorrow.” 

“Wow! So, Kelsey and me will be heading to the park for a little while then we’ll help out with the Bible study group and have some lunch out. Thomas is getting a little cranky with his arthritis so I figure we can cheer him up some.” she beamed fondly at her granddaughter who was starting to get a little fussy. 

“Oh, I know that face!” Katherine walked them down to the car where she took the car seat out of hers and gave it to Estelle. “She’s impatient just like her daddy.” 

“She definitely is!” 

“Oh I got to tell you; I saw Joel in the glider with Kelsey. They were both asleep that night I came home late and I just fell in love with him all over again. It was so sweet.” 

“Aw, are you getting a bit emotional, sweetheart?” Katherine rolled her eyes and didn’t deny it. “It’s natural to feel that way. I think it goes both ways, don’t you? Joel’s told me of the times he’s come home and you do little things like take Kelsey out so he can get a nap in. You two understand each other so well you never have to say a word. If you two ever have more children I think the love you two have will be enriched more.” 

“Well, we will go down that pipeline in another year or so. I want to space out the kids a little bit.” 

“Of course,” Estelle smiled. “must be on our way!” she attached the car seat and was off. Katherine got into her car, had to put the seat back a little bit so her twin bump had clearance then went to school. 

With her students talking to themselves, Katherine walked in and called the class to order. She took off her jacket, switched her shoes, then stood to take attendance. The teacher could feel all eyes on her belly though they waited until she had finished taking attendance to raise up a hand to ask the inevitable question. 

“Are you having a baby, Mrs. Harrison?” she had to smile. Katherine wasn’t officially ‘Mrs.’ Harrison but it was close enough for her. 

“Yes I am. I’m actually having two babies,” polite wishes of congratulation followed. “I will be having two babies in September so I have a little activity we can do together,” a little idea flashed in her mind. “so who wants to measure the teacher’s belly?”

Hands flew in the air. Grinning, Katherine taped up a big piece of paper on the wall, said she would go alphabetically by week and chose a student to help her. The student picked up a marker while Katherine stood sideways by the paper, making sure the student held the marker correctly he traced the belly’s outline on the paper. 

“Thank you!” she went to her desk. “Pull out your reading workbooks, please..” 

The day flew by for Katherine and she could appreciate the looks of wonderment that were on her students’ faces each time she walked by and saw eyes pulling to her bump like they were magnetized. 

At 3 PM she was done for the day and while the students filed out to catch the buses, Katherine was standing up to put on her coat when she thought she felt something. “What? Was that a push?” she put a hand on her bump where she felt it but nothing else happened. Katherine swapped her shoes, put on her winter coat then fastened the sash so it rode just on top of the bump which made her pregnancy very obvious to onlookers. 

“This time last year I could wear that flashy leather jacket Joel got me for Christmas!” she mourned, picking up her things and locking the classroom. 

At the appointment Katherine went for the ultrasound, proudly displaying the twin bump in its glory as she lay down. “I’ll never get back up now.” 

“Don’t be too sure about that,” the tech giggled, smearing gel all over the stretched out skin. “it’s a bit early for movement but some moms feel it. Did you?” 

“I thought I felt something like a push but it didn’t happen again.” the grainy image came into focus. 

“Not bad! They’re the size of oranges in there, both of equal size which is very good.” 

The transducer was pressed down rather hard and Katherine asked about sex but it was still too early to determine genders yet. “I can still see my feet but barely! My bump size has gone to like third trimester and skipped the second completely!” 

“Second trimester bump sizes get upgraded to first, don’t ya know that?” the tech joked with her, sliding the transducer around while Katherine tried to get comfortable. “Twin pregnancies get distorted-bumps appear very soon but everything else is more or less on the same track as before.” 

“Oh I see. Fifteen weeks equals five months in twin speak?”

“More or less but every woman’s different.” 

“Ah, gotcha. I’m in the fourth week of the second trimester so I’m more or less on time for twins.” 

“Exactly.” both of the babies were completely normal so Katherine rubbed off the dehydrating gel then went to see Dr. Tibbetts for the regular exam. 

The doctor measured her belly, laughed when Katherine told her how her students were measuring her belly, then went over guidelines recommended for twins. “Your BP and vitals look great and you’re on the right track. Go on home to your daughter and give her a big kiss for me.” 

“Thanks,” Katherine grabbed her coat and put it on. “what do the parents think of all this?”

“They are pleased as punch, Katherine,” Dr. Tibbetts replied. “they did hope for 3 like you did but they’re happy with two.” 

“I’m glad. Do you think I’ll get to meet them at the birth?” 

“Once you sign away custody and waive parental rights to them I’m sure they’ll come and thank you.” 

“They can still come to me any time and thank me though. It’s frustrating.” 

“Well, it’s all in legality,” Dr. Tibbetts said kindly. “you know they’ve been hosed before and while the babies are inside you they’re considered legally yours. Ultimately it’s the birth mother that trumps all.” 

“Ah. Tomorrow I’m headed to a studio to do a little photo shoot,” she told the doctor about her article. “maybe a little addendum is necessary.” 

“Just be kind.” Katherine said goodbye and went home. While in the car she glanced down at the sash that moved up and down when she breathed. In about another two maybe three weeks the babies would be in charge of moving it up and down. When their little muscles were developed she would definitely know it!

**

That day Joel had been teamed up with Ben and both of them went around to the local businesses to do fire safety checks, making sure everyone had a fresh canister of fire extinguishers, etc. The two of them had been doing a safety check on a heating oil company called Ambrose Oil LTD when a shout was heard from where they kept the oil tanks out back. There was a leak in one of the tank lines so Ben turned off the valve while Joel dumped some dirt on the spill to absorb it. 

“Sheesh! They really need to get those lines replaced,” Joel clambered into the engine with a rattle. “should not be allowed to carry on. We’ll stop by next week and make sure they replaced them.” 

“Yes indeed.” Ben agreed as they left the parking lot. 

“How’s it going with you and Maggie?” 

“Not too bad. We got married last weekend.” 

“Really? Get outta here!” 

“Really. We had a very small service as we don’t like being the center of attention. I don’t wear my ring because of my job but take a look here.” 

“You got a tattoo there?” 

“Yeah.” Maggie’s initials were inked around Ben’s left ring finger. 

“Nice. I think that’s pretty symbolic.” 

With their morning round over, Steve came in from a paramedic call in the elder care facility right on the edge of town. “Wasn’t too bad-a simple case of dehydration. I tell you nothing can get it through their thick heads that drinking water is good for you!” Steve popped the top of a soda can as he had lunch. “They seem to prefer expensive saline as opposed to free water and you actually need to make an effort to drink it.” 

Ben and Joel murmured their assent. Fortunately for Steve he’d just finished his lunch when the tones dropped overhead. “Forty-year-old male in snowmobile accident, fell through thin ice. Juno River state park.” 

“Oh god I hate water rescues!” they grabbed their gear and went. 

Juno River state park was a picturesque river near the outskirts of Stonehaven. It was a popular site for ice fishing and snowmobiling in the wintertime, boating and swimming in the summertime. It was the second to last week of March, still plenty cold but the water was starting to melt by degrees. Steve brought in the engine, Ben drove the ambulance while Joel hopped out and talked with the game warden, Noyes about what had happened. 

“Seems like this yahoo thought he’d be cute and try to jump the frozen wave right there in the middle of the river,” Noyes pointed out the obstacle. He was a short and fat man, gray hair, in his forties. “what he didn’t think of is the ice melting at this time of year and snowmobiles don’t like ice anyway.” 

“No shit,” Joel sympathized. “so what happened to him?” 

“From what I can ascertain, he went one way and the snowmobile went another way. Once he heard that ice start to crack he shit canned the snowmobile which was smart and it landed over there,” Noyes gestured to the adjacent bank which still had the machine idling. “on the other hand if he’d stuck with the machine he’d have gotten ejected onto the bank.” 

“Could have opened him up to a whole new set of problems,” Joel agreed. “so it’s up to us to save him. Where is he?” 

“Last I saw he had been lying out there.” they could see a thin black shape lying on thin ice. Joel could just see him as Steve opened up a compartment on the engine. Ben was hollering to the victim but not getting a response. 

“Right. We’ll do all we can.” 

Noyes gave him a gruff smile and clasped his shoulder. “Can’t thank you guys enough; the risks you take for stupid people. Off the record of course.” 

“Naturally.” he walked back to the engine, cursing in the slick snow. Steve was their best bet for that guy out there. The ex military man had also played extreme sports and had done swimming in icy water just for the thrill of it. 

“Yeah, just let me take this one,” he was saying as Joel got nearer. “you two be ready in case I need you.” he donned a rubber suit, zipped up, then began walking carefully on the ice with rugged grips attached to the bottom of his shoes for extra caution. Joel and Ben waited anxiously, getting the gurney ready. 

Steve walked out, gaining more confidence as the grips on his shoes held firm to the ice. The burly firefighter managed to reach the victim then saw blood on the ice. He quickly checked for any broken bones or spinal injuries, put a collar on the victim just for safety’s sake, then picked up the victim in a fireman’s carry. Steve put his arms under the victim’s arms, latched his fingers together and going backwards, dragged the victim back towards shore. 

Just as he was about to reach the shore, Steve heard the telltale sound of ice cracking. “Figures!” he tried tiptoeing across the spidery web of cracking but when he set his foot down the ice gave way, plunging him and the victim into an icy bath. 

“Steve! Shit!” Ben donned another suit and crashed down into the water waist deep, ready for the victim. Steve remembered his training, locked one arm under the victim’s head to keep it afloat, then with his muscular frame remembered which way to turn to find land. Ben shouted, reaching out for him so he started to swim for shore. 

Despite the intense cold the suit did a good job of insulating and protecting him from it. Steve didn’t like the cold water slapping him in the face but he stretched out, propelled his legs and reached Ben. The paramedic stretched out, grasped the victim and with Joel’s help put him on the gurney. Both of them brought the victim into the ambulance as Steve got out of the water, shed the suit, then stuffed it back into the compartment on the engine. 

“Good thing I had a good lunch; I think I burned it off doing that act of heroism.” he joked to himself feebly. 

“Ah, good job, son!” Noyes congratulated him. “I’ll file my report and include a commendation for you-where did you learn that swimming anyway?” 

“I did extreme sports with a club after I got out of the military about six years ago,” Steve told him. “it was fun and I did extreme cold water diving for years. The chief Farris was thrilled to death when he found out I was looking for a job here.” 

“Military, eh? What branch?” 

“Navy. I was a good frogman back in the day then once I got hurt I was fucked.” 

“What kind of injury?” 

“I had a herniated disc in my back. Then I got downgraded to level two and chose to leave after that. You can’t be top and be busted down like that-it’s fucking cruel. Once my enlistment period ended I chose to leave.” 

“I hear you. I was army in Fort Hood for awhile then left after it started getting insane around the Gulf war time. Just like you my reenlistment time was up,” Noyes studied him. “you look spent so hustle on back to the firehouse.” 

“Let me just check in with them and I’ll do it.” Steve opened up the ambulance doors. “How’s it going in here?” 

The two paused from their assessment of the patient. The victim was enshrouded in blankets, the neck collar was still on, and Ben was about ready to get in the driver’s seat. 

“Concussion, lacerations, of course hypothermia.” Ben told him, measuring him up with his eyes. “You look beat. Good job though; run on back to the firehouse and take a nap.” 

“Will do.” Steve gave them a weary sigh and shuffled off to the engine. 

“I think we have a new nickname for Steve,” Joel remarked, checking the vitals of the victim. “you ever see a guy swim like that before?” 

“No. What’s the nickname?” Ben sat down on the bench seat for a minute. 

“Frogman.” 

“Perfect.” the paramedic laughed, then went into the cab of the ambulance to drive them in. 

**

The hypothermia victim was taken into the emergency room and while they were assessing his information and checking for any ID, the patient suddenly went into cardiac arrest which didn’t make any sense to Joel or Ben. They had been monitoring him and his vital signs had been stable up until that point. Quickly the nurse jumped onto the gurney, administering CPR while the victim was rushed back to critical care. Ben and Joel followed the lead nurse’s directions, brought him into the room then expertly switched the victim to the bed. 

No longer needed, they took the gurney, loaded it into the ambulance then went back to the firehouse. Steve was in the bunkroom snoozing away happily in the corner, having already taken care of the equipment expertly. 

Ben was getting ready to sprawl out on the recliner and watch a little TV, Joel was spending time with the treadmill when there was a knock at the door. Ben groaned, “Are you kidding me?” but got up and answered. 

“Hey Ben,” deputy Weiss stood at the door. “you guys were at the incident this afternoon, right?”

“Yeah. What happened?” 

“He died and the police think that this could be a murder investigation.” 

“How’s that?”

“You’ll find out more later. You know, we can’t say anything officially about an ongoing investigation. The only thing I need to know from you guys is was the victim conscious at any time at all?”

“No. Steve said he wasn’t alert on the ice and even the hypothermic dunking didn’t wake him up.” 

“What doesn’t make sense is the way his vital signs just tanked when you brought him in. The coroner is doing an autopsy tomorrow to put this to bed as quickly as possible. Keep your eye on the news, all right?” 

“We will.” Ben thanked Weiss and shut the door. Weiss was a good deputy; always did his job conscientiously and respected the firefighters immensely. He was a little younger than most cops, about 28 and good looking with blonde hair and gray eyes. The ladies definitely loved him and he was a bit like Charlie in some respects but without dating trashy women. 

Speaking of which.. they’d held a charity drive in Charlie’s name for the animal shelter where he’d gotten his dogs on the anniversary of his death. It was a difficult day for all but for Ben he’d experienced a recurrent depressive episode and almost couldn’t go. Maggie had known about his symptoms of depression, then hunted him down at home and would not let him sit by himself. She had comforted him, made him tell her everything that went on in his head. 

Joel had experienced something similar. Katherine had taken him to the cemetery to bestow flowers upon Charlie’s grave. He’d remarked that even after a year it didn’t seem real to him anymore. As it turned out, Joel was scared of losing his memories of Charlie. Katherine had bought him a leather bound notebook with a handsome pen, then instructed him to write all of his memories of Charlie into it so he would never forget. 

It was coming up on the second anniversary of Charlie’s death. He’d died in the first week of April so they would do something to remember their old friend. Ben shuffled past Charlie’s grinning picture on the wall, planting himself on the recliner he preferred and picked up the remote. 

Not much was on so he decided to take a nap like Steve. Removing his wire rimmed glasses, Ben shut his eyes and dozed off. 

“I hate to think of what’s going to await us tonight.” Joel said about thirty minutes later, sweating like crazy. He turned off the machine, chugged the rest of his water bottle, took a shower and changed. He checked the time, made supper for himself then sacked out on his recliner in the living room. 

*”Joel?” a familiar grin caught his eye. Where was he? It was a place he wasn’t familiar with; quite bright and white which boring to his eyes. He’d seen that smile before now where was it? 

“Don’t tell me you don’t remember me!” a laughing rang in his ears. The scene around him melted and reconstituted into the firehouse. The Charlie memorial picture was gone but the whole place was bathed in a rosy glow. 

“What on earth is going on? Am I mental?” 

“Far from it my old friend!” Charlie appeared through the ethereal space. “You’re dreaming.” 

“Charlie! You’ve never been in my dreams before.” 

“I have but you don’t know it. How about Katherine? How’s she doing?” 

“If dreams taught me anything you already know.” he countered. 

Charlie laughed and sat down on the coffee table. “Yes I do. Good for her! Following her dream and you’re being a great sport about it even though you want those babies to be yours. I never figured you for a belly fetish kind of guy. Oh well, it takes all kinds.” 

“Yeah true but there will be time enough for that later on. So were you in pain? Did it hurt to die?” 

“No,” Charlie said in his familiar flippant manner. “after I collapsed saving Ben’s life I knew it was the end for me. I passed out knowing I wasn’t going to survive and in a second I was like occupational hazard, if I go I go. I never hesitated.” 

“You did what any one of us would have done. Ben’s had such a hard time with your death-he has such depression episodes. If he didn’t have Maggie I don’t know where he would be.” 

“Well, some good came out of my death after all, don’t you think?” 

“Yeah. God, we miss you so much!” Joel blurted out, hugging his friend. “Steve’s great but he’d not you! We’d give anything to have you back, Wanker!” 

“Now now.. I’d love to be back too but my time is done here. My spirit would need to be reborn.” 

“Oh hell-Katherine’s got two cooking in her uterus. Possess one of them and you’re good to go.” 

“Flippant like me,” Charlie’s wide smirk filled his face. “I only stopped by to say hi. The second anniversary of my death is coming so don’t forget me.” 

“We won’t. Katherine sends her love I’m sure.” 

“Your daughter is so cute! I’m looking out for her.” 

“You’re her guardian angel?”

“That’s right.” 

“I don’t know whether to feel flattered or afraid. Your ideas of fun..” 

“Oh shut up!”* the dream fizzled out.


	4. Chapter 4

Joel woke up one morning in the first week of April. He had to go on shift that morning but he wanted a few minutes to himself first. With Katherine still sleeping beside him he carefully drew the covers down over his sleeping girlfriend’s swollen belly, hardly believing how big she’d gotten at just five months gone. She’d already felt one movement from within but it was going to take a little longer as the twins hadn’t quite developed the muscle yet. 

“God I think she’s stretching out already,” the firefighter pulled a bottle of lotion out of the nightstand and began to rub Katherine’s belly generously. “I can’t believe how big you are already. It’s so strange. No wonder you’re so tired.” Joel finished up and kissed her. 

“Thanks my handsome lover boy,” the teacher roused enough to meet his kiss then both got up and got ready for the day. “I need to get the glucose tolerance test done today.” 

“Right. I need to get to a meeting with the fire chief today too. We need to get training done, some vehicle extrication procedures or some bullshit like that.” 

“Sounds like a load of laughs. How about that guy you guys rescued from the lake?” 

“He died. I don’t know why; chief Farris is going to get the group together today and properly debrief us on what exactly went on.” 

“That will be interesting to say the least.” Katherine finished her shower, dried off her hair, then brought out her makeup. 

Joel toweled off and got into his uniform, breathing in the fruity scent of Katherine’s shampoo. She hadn’t been attacked by her evening sickness lately within the last week which was an excellent sign. The first trimester was now a distant memory, she’d been more energetic and her appetite for sex was back. The teacher grinned, a little flush in her cheeks as he got her in a front to back hug, brushing a sweet kiss on her neck. 

“Have you felt anything yet?” wow, she could barely see her feet now! Joel glanced down over her shoulder as the rotund protuberance swelled out, riding on her hips. She was roughly twice the size of her previous pregnancy now, Joel estimated, sliding one hand down beneath the belly and caressing the skin all the way down to her crotch. 

“I only felt something once. They’re getting bigger in there and it won’t be long before they’re kicking and pushing me like Kelsey did.” she finished her makeup and tried to edge towards the door with Joel still clutching at her. 

“Do you think they need some encouragement?” grinning wryly Joel opened up the door and they walked into the bedroom, getting changed. 

“We can try that out later on, all right? I have to get to the school and Kelsey needs to be dropped off at your mom’s house.” 

“You are such a spoilsport,” Joel kissed Katherine, undoing the buttons on her shirt so her belly hung out. “we’ll need to play later on.” 

“I promise that we will, hunky stud,” she kissed back, her hands on his inner thighs. “I’m more energetic now and I think that we’ll have some fun. Oh, I’m also going to get a few photos done of my big belly and get that magazine article published.” 

“Great,” Joel entered Kelsey’s room. The little girl was already awake and sitting patiently in her crib, stretching out her arms at her dad who lowered the bars and lifted her out. He put her in an outfit for the day while Katherine made breakfast, then sat her in her chair. “come on my little girl, I’m taking you in today.” 

Kelsey did as she was told, Katherine lifted her out of the chair and she toddled along after her mom as she loaded the dishwasher. Joel went to take the car seat out of Katherine’s car then returned to find his daughter wobbling along towards Katherine who was standing near the table, picking up her purse and keys. 

“Up!” 

“What’s that, honey?” Katherine looked down which took an extra effort nowadays. “Mama can’t really bend now.” 

“Up, Mommy!” Joel went over and picked Kelsey up. The toddler reached out one tiny hand and touched her mother’s stomach. “Mommy big!” 

“She was this size when you were inside her, sweetie,” the firefighter pecked his daughter’s head fondly. “maybe a little less so.” 

“Why Mommy so big?” Kelsey’s big blue eyes stared at her mother while her little hand stayed on the belly. 

“It’s a long story, little girl,” the teacher kissed Joel and Kelsey happily. “short story is Mommy’s having two babies now.” 

“Babies?” Kelsey knew what they were. Her aunt Dawn and her husband had a 3-month-old son named Jordan and Kelsey was fascinated. “Babies in there?” 

“Yes darling. Mom’s got to go to work now and I’ll see you tonight.” Katherine walked out the door, purse and briefcase in hand. 

“Babies? Why?” Joel had to smile. Why was every kid’s favorite word. The firefighter looked down at his daughter, proud of the fact that she was his spitting image except for the hair. It was time for them to get going and he didn’t know how to explain surrogacy to a 1-year-old so she would understand it. 

“Because Mama likes helping people.” he strapped her into the car seat, got into the driver’s seat and went over to his mother’s house. 

**

After dropping off Kelsey at his mother’s house, Joel went into the firehouse where Farris had Ben and Steve sitting around the kitchen table. The chief looked unusually grim for one reason or another, Joel noted, but he sat down with his coworkers and prepared himself mentally. 

“All right, you know that guy you three heroically pulled out of the lake?” Farris began. “We got some files on him. His name was Patrick Lawrence and he was the manager of The Aces nightclub.” 

“That trash heap down the other side of town?” Ben asked.

“It’s been there long enough and the clientele are of seedy trashy people,” Farris agreed. “we had the autopsy report back to see why he died and it turns out he had a lethal amount of potassium chloride in his bloodstream.” 

“They use that stuff to stop the heart during heart surgery,” Steve piped up. “what’s someone doing with that stuff outside a hospital setting?” 

“Here’s the kicker for you guys; Patrick was missing for a week and nobody reported it. His body shows signs of assault but mainly defensive wounds. The theory is that Patrick was abducted from his home last week, taken out somewhere, starved for a week, then when they had enough for whatever reason, they gave him some potassium chloride. When it didn’t kill him fast enough they decided to make it look like an accident.” 

“Hence the snowmobile accident. He didn’t jump off the snowmobile, he just fell off,” Steve took up the narrative from there. “then the cops call us to help him out because he’s just sinking into the water.” 

“Exactly, Steve.” 

“We rescue him, get him warmed up a little bit and when we bring him into the emergency room he codes and dies.” 

“Yes. The coroner says that he would have coded sooner but he was too cold and that restricted bloodflow. As soon as he was warmed up enough he went into cardiac arrest and died.” Farris told them all. 

“Where do we go from now? The cops already took our statement.” 

“We continue on like usual but we be very aware of any more incidents like this happening. The Aces was owned by Patrick but he had to answer to the owner who by all accounts is a nasty character.” 

“Who is it?”

“We don’t know yet, Joel. There are some seedy characters out there.” 

“Should we worry?” Ben inquired, twiddling a pencil in one hand. 

“If you come across any more sudden cardiac arrests I want to be notified immediately and you need to call and report it to the police.” 

“Will do, chief.” Steven assured him heartily. 

“All right,” the chief stood up from the table. “Joel, how’s your girlfriend getting on?” 

“Pretty good, sir,” he had to smile. “did you find out what she did about 5 months ago?” 

“I did. I think it’s great to do something like that. Did she get over the morning sickness yet?”

“It was more like evening sickness. Yeah, she had that up until almost 17 weeks and it finally stopped. She just soldiers on which is really great.” 

“Katherine’s made out of tough stock,” Farris commented. “her mother was like that too.” 

“Did you know her?”

“Yeah a little bit. We were friendly. Katherine’s mom was never afraid of a challenge, knew when to conquer and when to admit defeat. She was very take charge.” the chief put his hand on the door handle. 

“Katherine takes after her a lot.” 

“Well, you tell her from me to keep those babies safe. She’ll have given birth by the time of the next Fireman’s Ball right?” 

“Yes sir, she’s due in September.” Ben and Steve filed out of the room and both went into the garage area to conduct their weekly inspections. 

“I think it’s great what she’s doing. Give her my best.” 

“Thank you sir, I will.” the chief departed the firehouse and Joel joined his friends out in the garage. 

The firefighter joined Ben in checking their turnout gear, unsnapping the inner lining and taking it out to inspect for damage. Steve started inspecting and polishing the fire hose attachments, checking for any cracks or leaks. 

“So how’s Katherine really doing?” Ben took up a fresh rag, tucked it in his back pocket then began to snap the inner lining back into the outer layer of the turnout jacket. 

“She’s doing all right. Kelsey started getting inquisitive about the size of her mother’s belly today,” Joel remarked. “there’s no way I could make a 1-year-old understand that her mother was essentially renting her uterus out to strangers.” 

“True. What did you say to her?” Ben hung up his jacket then turned to the ambulance, opening up the back doors and stepping inside. Joel followed him, picking up a rag and wiping down the bench seat. 

“I said that Mom’s having two babies. Kelsey knew something was awry when Katherine couldn’t bend down to pick her up. She can barely see her feet already!”

“Oh boy,” Ben grinned. “she’s getting on the heavy side, huh? Did she sign on for multiples?” 

“That’s the variable in these IVF pregnancies,” Joel told him, checking an oxygen canister. “the standard operating procedure is they implant two or three at a time so that at least one will be able to take. In Katherine’s case, well, she’s super fertile so two out of three took root.” 

“Super fertile, eh?” Ben laughed, swinging out of the ambulance. “You were the one who knocked her up six months after you started dating.” 

Joel laughed too, tucking the rag into his back pocket. “It was a team effort at first! Then I kept Katherine’s spirits up during the early months.” 

“Now I hear she’s writing an article on gestational surrogacy?” Steve asked from where he stood, recoiling the fire hose. 

“True, she is. Katherine wanted to wait until she started showing enough to take pictures and send them into the editor with the article. I think she’s getting those pictures done today.” 

“Good for her. I think more attention needs to be on surrogacy of all kinds,” the muscular firefighter said, wiping down the windshield. “it’s a great thing she’s doing.” 

“Yeah I know.” just then the tones dropped: industrial accident, hazardous chemical spill near one of the oil companies. Grabbing their freshly inspected turnout gear they swung into the cab of the engine and departed the firehouse with sirens screaming, lights blazing. 

**

“Mrs. Harrison!” one of Katherine’s pupils piped up, waving her hand. The students had just come back from lunch and were still full of energy from the lunchtime socializing so Katherine usually gave them a few minutes to settle down before she said anything. 

“What is it, Louise?” 

“Who gets to measure your belly today?” 

“Well I almost forgot that, didn’t I?” Katherine laughed. Putting a hand on her belly she got up from her chair, pulling back her khaki shirt a little bit. The teacher stood at the head of the class and selected a black haired towheaded boy called Adam to trace her belly against the paper. She turned sideways as the young man took the graphite pencil and carefully sketched a trace. Katherine moved away, then the boy took up a black magic marker and went over the outline. 

“What do you think, am I getting bigger or what?” she teased, resuming her stance at the head of the class. 

The class mumbled to themselves over how big their teacher had already gotten. Katherine had sent home permission forms for the parents to sign, asking if they wanted her to use her pregnancy as a teachable science lesson. Happily all the parents had signed off on it, encouraging her to use it as they saw fit, kept age appropriate of course. 

“OK!” she took the overhead projector and an image popped up on the clean blackboard. “This is what’s going on inside me right now.” the image was of two babies in separate placentas. 

“Well, let’s try to make this a little more interesting,” Katherine adjusted the image then moved to where the image was projected. She untucked her shirt, moved it aside, then the image of unborn twin babies was projected directly onto her pregnant belly. “interesting enough?” 

“Oh yes, Mrs. Harrison!” the class told her. 

“Thanks, guys! OK now, baby number one is here,” she pointed. “my babies each have their own separate placentas which is good..” 

The lesson ended with Katherine telling them that she hadn’t felt any movement yet which wasn’t a lie at all. She felt something once but it wasn’t enough to tell the class about who would want to feel something. The teacher promised them that they would as soon as the babies started moving. Katherine sank down behind the desk with a little sigh, having given her students some time to get their things together before the final bell rang. 

“All right kids, have a good weekend!” the teacher waved them off as the bell rang. 

“Now it’s time to head to the photography studio so he can get a few shots of me and my belly.” Katherine ran her hand down the side of her stretched out belly, hoping for a kick or a nudge but when she put her hand down at her waist on her right hand side she distinctly felt something like a push. 

“I’ve had a baby before and I know that’s a definite push!” she was excited. “Do it again for me.” Katherine pushed her shirt aside but the movement was so subtle she couldn’t see it from the outside just yet. A little flutter like a little kick on her right hand side was felt which made her smile. Moving her hand to the other side she waited for a movement there for a long moment. 

“Come on in there,” Katherine bent forward as much as she could to pick up her purse and when she straightened up, she put her hand on that side again, feeling for movement and got rewarded with a little nudge from inside. “aw, good kids! I’m not your mom but I’ll give you both As for effort.” 

“Have a good night, Katherine!” Denise waved her from the building a few minutes later. In the parking lot, Katherine eyed her belly for a long moment then put the car in gear and drove to the photography studio. 

“It’s so strange to think that these babies inside me aren’t mine,” she muttered, realizing that she knew how Joel felt previously about the whole procedure. “maybe next time I’ll be having Joel’s baby instead. I’ve already done it once.” Katherine banned herself from thinking about how the babies didn’t properly belong to her and continued driving. 

At the studio Katherine was looking at a print of a cat on the wall when the photographer came out to greet her. 

“Hi, my name’s Andie! So what are we going to be photographing you in today? Did you bring a few outfits?” 

“Yeah, I have a few.” 

“All right, we can start as you are now or if you’re more comfortable in something else, feel free to change.” she was shown the changing room right next to the open studio space where a few cameras were set up on tripods. 

Katherine’s first picture was of her sitting at a desk, looking very teacher like. A second photo of below her waist displayed her belly. Andie got Katherine to change into a loose pajama set she’d brought, Katherine was directed to lie on a comfortable looking couch on her side, then close her eyes like she was sleeping. 

Andie had her tug up her shirt a little bit to expose most of the belly, adjusted the light so it looked like the sun was shining in from the window, and expertly snapped the picture. Katherine got a look on the laptop; it looked like she was sleeping quietly while the sun rose. 

“Joel’s going to love this one.” 

“Your husband?”

“Yeah. He always loves the way I look when I sleep. He says I look almost angelic.” 

“And you do,” Andie smiled warmly. “what’s your next pose?” 

“Well, I kinda wanted one of when I was getting an ultrasound-the technical part of the pregnancy,” Katherine hedged. 

“We have a fake medical set here-we set that up for some TV promos a few years ago. We have a realistic looking ultrasound setup.” Andie showed her into the little room. 

“Nice!” there was a real looking exam table but the ultrasound machine was painted onto a tall movable flat piece of scenery. It looked quite realistic-the artist who painted it had all the dimensions right. 

“The only thing real-ish is this fake transducer,” Andie picked it up. “if I hold it at this angle and you put your hands like this, we can get a good shot.” Katherine lay down and what she was told to do. The teacher completed the shot then as Andie was hanging up the faux transducer, Katherine felt another kick. 

“Oh my gosh!” she leaned up on her elbows, one hand on the spot where the baby kicked. 

“What is it? Feel a little kick?” 

“Yes I did.” 

“Oh!” Andie got a candid shot of Katherine feeling the kick and laughed. They completed the photoshoot, Katherine selected the images she wanted to accompany the magazine article then told Andie to develop them all for a memento. 

“You must come back when you’re full term so we can get a souvenir of how big you really were. After you give birth this will seem like a dream.” 

“I know that feeling already.” she ruefully admitted, sitting up the best she could. “I was sorry I didn’t get a memento of my big belly with Kelsey. Wait, Joel’s got some on his phone so I could print one.” 

“Go for it! Remember to let me know when you have the babies!” Andie waved her out happily. 

**

Katherine picked up Kelsey at her grandma’s house, brought her home, fed her, then let her play around on the floor with her wooden blocks and other toddler toys. The teacher marked off her students’ schoolwork, made lesson plans for the next week, then lay down on the couch while the TV blared on in the background. She had just gotten comfortable lying faceup when Katherine realized her belly was roughly the size of a small planet already. 

It was hard to believe that inside her, through just a few layers of muscle and tissue were two new people that nobody had ever met before, she thought idly, dragging her hand down one side, not expecting a response. She had gotten lost in such thoughts before when she was pregnant with Kelsey and it never failed to amaze her every time it seemed. 

“Mama!” Kelsey had scooted over to the coffee table, used the edge to push herself up, then walked unsteadily over to the couch. “Lookit me!” 

“I see you, my little baby girl.” she smiled, sitting up. 

“Up!” Kelsey held out her arms. 

“You gonna make Mama work, eh?” Katherine put her daughter by her side on the couch. The toddler sat down beside her mother, tried to give her a hug but the big twin belly got in the way. 

“Mama big!” 

“Thank you, Kelsey,” the teacher rolled her eyes. Kelsey always stated the obvious when she could. “Mama’s only going to be big for about 4 and a half more months or so.” 

“Daddy… baby..” she couldn’t quite fit together words to make sentences yet but Katherine understood what she was driving at. 

“Daddy said two babies are in here, right?” she took her hand and placed it against the twin belly. 

“Yeah!” Kelsey made a little fist and moved to hit her mother’s belly but Katherine stopped her. “No! Baby.. no!” 

“You don’t want Mama having babies?” she suppressed a smirk. Even one-year-olds thought they could boss their mothers around. 

“No, Mama! This many!” she held up 3 fingers. 

“Oh, you want it to be the three of us, not any more babies,” she understood. “well my baby, these two babies aren’t ours; they belong to someone else.” 

Kelsey of course didn’t understand. Katherine started to teach her to be gentle, opening up the little fist and making her rub the little hand on her belly. “Maybe the babies will kick your hand.” 

It took a few minutes before Katherine realized that the babies weren’t strong enough yet to really kick so Kelsey would feel it so she put her daughter on the bump lightly, opened up her shirt and drew it back so she would be able to see if they did move. The teacher had seen a little defined movement earlier on so it might happen again. 

“Gently,” she warned Kelsey who moved with a fist clenched tightly but at her mother’s stern voice immediately opened up her fist and dropped it to Katherine’s belly. She started stroking the belly like Katherine had just taught her. “good girl.” 

Amused, Katherine watched her daughter stroke her belly in a way that was reminiscent of her father. Joel had been a bit clumsy at first as well but he’d soon developed a better technique of stroking a stretched out pregnant belly that usually relaxed her so much she fell asleep each time. He had the magic touch of relaxing her and when she was pregnant with Kelsey he could calm down his unborn daughter when she was was so active Katherine couldn’t sleep. 

It was amazing how genetics worked, Katherine thought happily. Kelsey had the blonde hair of Joel’s grandmother, his big blue eyes, his laid back demeanor. The toddler didn’t seem to inherit anything from Katherine but her character wasn’t well developed yet so down the road she might show some traits of the Maguire family. Joel often teased her about Kelsey taking after him but she just smiled and told him to just wait further on down the road. 

“You’re just like your father,” Katherine pushed aside a blonde hair in her daughter’s face. “he’ll be home tomorrow.” 

A push of surprising force surprised Katherine and made Kelsey squeal out in a bubbly laugh. She pointed at the spot where she felt the push, giggling. “Oh you think that’s funny? You didn’t feel it!” laughingly she picked up Kelsey and stood up. “Time for bed my little white queen!” 

“Nooo!” 

“Oh yes.” the teacher took Kelsey’s playclothes off, put her in a little nightgown, then put her into the crib. Kelsey pouted at first then pointed to Katherine’s belly. 

“Is this pointing going to be a thing now? Is my belly the newest fascination?” 

“Kick! Kick!” 

“You think by telling them to kick they will? Oh god! Night, my little one,” Katherine kissed her gently, knowing Kelsey was ready to fall asleep. “the babies kick when they want to. I wish they could kick on command for a party trick.” 

“Night, Mama.” Kelsey relaxed and started falling asleep. 

“Night my little one.” she left the room, going into her bedroom and picking up a book to read until nine. 

Joel came home around 8 AM, happily having gotten some sleep at the firehouse. The industrial accident had taken several hours to fix and he’d been the reserve firefighter on duty, leaving the other two to be the paramedics on call. He wasn’t exhausted at all this time, and was happy to hear that Kelsey was awake and talking to herself in her crib. 

“Daddy!” she cried, seeing her father in the doorway. He laughed and picked her up, put her playclothes on, then got breakfast ready. Katherine was still in bed, snoozing away happily even as breakfast was done and over with. Joel stacked the dishwasher, started a laundry downstairs, then made sure Kelsey was happy with her blocks and toys on the floor. 

“Your mama still sleeping, huh?” Joel opened up the door to the bedroom to see that Katherine was lying on her right side, facing the bureau and window, still fast asleep. The firefighter noted how her pajama shirt had been unbuttoned over the bump-it was rather hard now to get the buttons fastened so Katherine didn’t button them up anymore. 

“Oh, my angel is sawing logs like mad.” she didn’t make a sound but Joel always teased her that she did. Sitting on the edge of the bed he watched her sleep for a long moment, brushing his hand through her dark locks. Nothing ever looked so good to his eyes than his girlfriend deeply asleep, all soft and quiet, looking completely relaxed and serene. Joel’s hand went over to her twin bump, gently giving it a little stroke, hoping to provoke a reaction. 

“Let’s see if there’s any sign of life in there yet..” nothing happened so he was a little disappointed. 

Later on in the morning, Joel told Katherine what the chief had told him; both hoped that there wasn’t any murderer running loose in their little town. The firefighter lay back on the couch, clothed in a regular gray t-shirt and pair of jeans with no sneakers. Katherine appeared in loose knit pants and another empire waisted shirt, sitting beside her boyfriend as Kelsey played on the rug. 

“Kick! Kick!” Kelsey chirped, pointing at her mother’s belly again. 

“Did I miss something here?” Joel took Katherine into his arms, snuggling her and giving her a kiss. 

“The babies started moving yesterday while I was doing the photo shoot. When she sends me the prints from the shoot I’ll show you.” 

“Did you get the exact moment it happened?” he put his warm hand up under her shirt, cupping her bump.

“Well, I had it happen a few times already yesterday but I didn’t expect it to be honest. We were doing a photo-me getting a fake ultrasound and lying on an exam table and Andie holding the fake transducer she clicked the photo just after the first kick. She got me looking surprised, you’ll see.” 

“I can’t wait. When do we get the prints?”

“She’s going to send them to me sometime today. Anyway I taught Kelsey a new word last night. She was sitting on my belly, I was teaching her to be gentle in touching me and there was a kick.” 

“Really?”

“Oh yes. Right up here,” she indicated. “now Kelsey points at my belly and tells it to kick on command.” 

Joel started laughing, running his hand over Katherine’s protuberance. “I wish it would. Could you tell which baby it is?” 

“I can try to estimate that,” she uncovered her belly, pulled out the overhead projector sheet and displayed it on herself. “by some miraculous coincidence the babies are laid out pretty much the same as on this sheet. I think it’s the one that is on the left hand side making all the trouble.” 

“Any movement on the right?” 

“A little bit. Won’t be long before they start acting up. It’s what, April? First week of May I will be 6 months.” 

“I can’t wait for those photos to come.” Joel kissed Katherine passionately.


	5. Chapter 5

At the firehouse a few weeks later, Joel was thinking about Katherine and how she was at the halfway mark in her pregnancy. She was officially 20 weeks and she’d awakened from a nap while Kelsey was out with her little playgroup. Joel was channel surfing next to her and asked her what was wrong. She’d put a hand to her belly which was looking a little bigger, then answered that she felt another kick. With a little grin on his face Joel pushed back her shirt so he could see it more clearly. 

Surely enough, right under her skin there was a distinct movement like a little fist which drew a straight line and receded down again. Water analogies flew through his mind but he didn’t say anything. It was baby A who was on the right hand side and baby B who was on the left. Most of the time baby B made trouble but baby A often got in on it. Katherine hadn’t felt any fighting yet but that would come. 

“Your mind is a million miles away, Joel,” Steve remarked as he sat down beside his friend. “whatcha thinking about?” 

“Wouldn’t you love to know, Frogman,” he teased. Steve really seemed to like his nickname as a big grin swooped across his face. “you and me are on paramedic duty tonight.” 

“Come on, thinking about your pregnant girlfriend?”

“Yeah. The twins started moving last night and she’s midway through her pregnancy now.” 

“Good for her. I think she’ll carry it off well. Are you two going to have any more kids yourselves?” 

“Oh yeah,” Joel took a drink of water as Ben came in, looking a bit dazed. “we want at least two.” 

“Nice. She still gonna carry for the agency?” 

“If she wants to yes.” 

Just then the tones dropped. Someone had keeled over and needed some attention. Joel and Steve grabbed their gear and departed in the ambulance. 

When they got to the residence they could hear hysterical screaming and crying which did not make either one of them any more confident about the situation. But each one had learned that people tended to overreact in any given situation so they took it with a grain of salt because there were people in need. Steve was the first man on the premises because he was a formidable person and if there were any aggressive people in there he would be able to simply brush them aside. Then he would call for police backup of course as was proper protocol. 

The two of them were permitted entry, bringing a gurney up the steps and into the house. A middle aged woman was lying on the floor with her face starting to turn blue, eyes closed, nonresponsive to any stimuli. Steve checked the airway, breathing and circulation, found their patient wasn’t breathing on her own, then started CPR. 

“What happened?” 

“She just keeled over during dinner tonight and we tried to wake her up but nothing happened!” a distraught husband told Joel. 

“Is she on any medication?” 

“Just one for high blood pressure but that’s it!” 

“OK, any underlying medical problems? Conditions?” 

“Well she had a surgery for ovarian cysts ten years ago but that doesn’t factor into this!” 

“I agree. Sir, if you’ll remove your family from the scene here, we’re going to take your wife into the hospital and get her attended to. Do you want to ride with us?” 

“No, I don’t want to be in the way,” the man smartly said. “I’ll follow you.” 

“OK, we will be heading out in a minute. Steve?” 

The firefighter was leaning over the woman, administering chest compressions until Joel leaned over him. “Cardiac arrest, nothing yet. Give her a shot of adrenaline.” 

Joel uncapped the needle, plunged it near a major artery then injected the full amount. The two of them got the woman on the gurney, strapped her in, and with Joel taking a turn doing compressions, Steve got them to the ambulance. Joel hopped off momentarily to get the gurney into the ambulance, grabbed a few tools including a blue Ambu-Bag and prepared to intubate. Steve kept CPR going while Joel used a tool to keep the tongue out of the way then inserted a tube down past the epiglottis into the trachea. He connected the Ambu-Bag to the tube and began squeezing it, releasing air into the lungs to keep them going. 

“She’s going to need to be shocked!” Steve shocked her several times but on the sixth try the woman had a heartbeat. Joel kept pressing the bag while the other paramedic jumped into the cab and began driving like mad to the emergency room, sirens and lights blaring out. 

“Over here in room 2!” the charge nurse met them in the ambulance bay, charged ahead of them as they brought the woman in and put her in the room. A resident doctor took over, unhooking the ambulance Ambu-Bag, attaching the emergency room one, then another doctor started shocking the woman. With their job done, Joel and Steve began to head back to the firehouse. 

“I think we need to report this one to the chief and the police,” Steve pulled out his cell phone. “yeah, chief? Still awake? Sorry to bug you but we had a cardiac arrest and I think that.. yeah, I know.. you’ll do it.. thanks.” 

“What did he say?” Joel backed into the spot for the ambulance at the firehouse.

“He’s gonna take care of it with the police. We need to concentrate on what’s going to happen next.” Steve put his phone in his pocket, checked to make sure that Joel had parked the ambulance properly then got out. He gave off a yawn, stretched his muscles and walked towards the living room area with Joel looking similarly tired following him. 

“Hey guys,” Ben greeted them, walking in from the gym and looking strangely heavy lidded. “interesting case?” 

“Not really. A typical CA.” Steve kicked back in a recliner with a little creaking sound. Joel got some water from the tap and guzzled it all in one gulp, feeling a little dehydrated. 

“Are you feeling all right, Ben?” the firefighter frowned. “I can’t remember seeing you so tired before. Sick?” 

“No. Then again a workout should not drain me this much.” he had been feeling a bit off color; his face was a little pale and it seemed to him like his reflexes were a little off. Steve glanced at Ben, noting the off color but nothing else was unusual to his eyes. 

“You head on up to bed.” Joel directed him. Ben gave a tired salute and marched off upstairs. 

“What’s this? Oh, Joel, Katherine’s column is in the magazine. Here.” Steve handed Joel the fresh copy of the Stonehaven Herald. The front page had the picture of Katherine sitting at her desk wearing one of her teaching outfits, the pregnant belly a little conspicuous by the way it poked out at her waist. At the bottom of the picture it read in bright letters SURROGACY: ONE TEACHER’S STORY. 

“Nice.” he opened up the magazine to the number listed. Katherine had written a few columns but they had given her the full page which was embellished with her photographs. There was an image of the transducer on the belly with the whole belly shown. What drew Joel’s eye was the picture of Katherine lying asleep with the angelic halo around her. The caption said “Surrogacy is one exhausting job!” 

“Oh that’s a good one of her,” Steve piped up. Another shot was the candid one of Katherine leaning up on one elbow on the exam table, her hand on her big belly grinning. “really nice.” 

The caption read, “During the photo shoot Katherine felt the babies kicking!” the angle of the photo was the side so they could really see how big she was. 

“She’s really that huge?” 

“Bigger now,” Joel scanned the article. “she’s at the halfway point and I’m enjoying the fringe benefits.” one picture had Katherine looking down at her belly, both hands on it like she was hugging it. 

“Stay tuned for part two, third trimester and reflection!” he read out. “The photographer said that Katherine needed souvenirs from her pregnancy to remember that she was once that big. She flirted with the idea of silly belly casts they make but by the time she’s full term that belly of hers won’t stay still at all.” 

“Make sure Katherine saves this. Does she have any mementos from when she was pregnant before?”

“Not really. I selected this picture when she was full term with Kelsey,” Joel showed him a picture of Katherine when she was in her ninth month, dressed in a wraparound light blue top which showed off how big her belly was and she had on a simple denim maternity skirt. “I gave it to her yesterday and she was thrilled.” 

“She looks great. I think being pregnant really suits her.” Steve handed his phone back to him. 

“She enjoys it. All I know now is that it’s my turn next.” 

“Eager to have another sperm batch slapped into her and baked in the oven, huh?” the ex military man teased happily, enjoying the lurid flush that rose up to his coworker’s cheeks. 

“Oh yeah. She’s almost 33 now and is going to get preggers whenever she wants.” 

“Why isn’t she pregnant with your baby now?” 

“Well, she declared to me that she wants only one kid in diapers at a time. Can’t blame her.” 

“I definitely don’t blame her there!” Steve chuckled. “I like her mindset. Are you going to eventually marry her completely?” 

“And get slammed with a marriage tax? No thanks.” 

“Yeah, there’s no way around that but not to get married. Good thinking though. That money can go towards raising kids.” 

“Oh, speaking of kids,” Joel was about to doze off but remembered something. “Kelsey thinks this whole pregnancy thing is fascinating. The twins started kicking once and she felt it. Now she goes around pointing at the belly and saying, ‘kick, kick!’ it’s cute.” 

Steve started laughing amid the somnolence that was tugging at his eyes. “Oh that sounds great!” just then the tones dropped again. 

**

The night seemed very long for Steve and Joel. Three drunks, six overdoses, one major highway accident, and a wildfire they got called out to help with. Through it all, Joel, as the captain of his team, kept a close eye on Ben. He was efficient as always in his job but he was noticeably slower and his reflexes were a little under par. At the end of the wildfire, Ben was helping Steve shut the hydrant down when he slipped and stumbled a little bit. Steve kindly made him sit aside, finished with the hydrant then brought them all back to the firehouse. Joel glanced at Ben, worried now as he dozed on the way back which wasn’t like him at all. 

Once they arrived, Steve washed their things and hung them up, unrolled the fire hose to dry completely, then walked off upstairs to the bunkroom to grab a little sleep. Ben clumsily opened up the door to the engine and nearly stumbled getting out which made Joel even more concerned. 

“All right Ben, come on here,” the firefighter pulled out the blood pressure cuff and made Ben sit down in the living room. “you’ve got something going on with you.” 

“I know, I feel so tired,” Ben pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know why. I just got all the bloodwork from my annual visit and I’m good to go.” the raspy sound of velcro being ripped apart seemed to be louder than usual to his ears. Joel put the cuff around his friend’s upper arm, fastened it down, then put his stethoscope on. The cuff was inflated, the firefighter listened intently, watching the needle gauge start to go down then he let the air out of the cuff with a little sigh. 

“Did you get a CBC?” he removed the stethoscope from his ears, hung it around his neck and put the cuff away while Ben blinked slowly in the bright light. 

“Yes and it was all normal. My blood counts would be all screwed up if something was awry.” he put his glasses back on. 

“Maybe they should be run again,” Joel paused. “your BP’s normal. Did your medications change?”

“No.” Ben had an allergy to pollen and often needed Claritin in the spring and summer but nothing else. 

“Maggie being good to you?” 

“Why would she not be? I treat her like a queen.” Ben smiled. 

“I hear that.” they stood up and walked into the living area, then up the stairs to the bunkroom where Steve was already sound asleep in his bed. Joel kicked off his shoes, changed into his sleepwear while Ben did the same, both collapsing in bed, happy for some downtime. “Do you think you and Maggie will have any kids someday?” 

“We’re thinking about that. She’s scared of the whole process really.” 

“Have her talk to Katherine. How about they meet for lunch sometime?” 

“That’s a good idea. Did you see Katherine in the magazine yet?” Joel waved it in front of Ben who looked at the front page. 

“Yeah I did. I hope Maggie sees it.” 

“Make sure that she does. You’ll see. It can be a rewarding and you’ll be entertained among the way.” 

“The idea of my wife pregnant with my child is a strong incentive,” Ben admitted. “I’d feel so much like a man knowing I got her that way.” 

“Gotta be careful though. Be attentive. When that morning sickness hits you need to be there to comfort her. When Katherine got it she would just lie there and rest so all I did was stay there with her. Remember you’re in it together.” 

“Good advice. God, I need sleep.” The three of them managed to get about four and a half hours of uninterrupted sleep before the tones dropped again. It was another cardiac arrest in a different location so with Ben feeling a little fragile, all three of them went out to the call. 

The person who went into cardiac arrest was a senior gentleman who lived with his wife who had been helplessly screaming at her husband to get up. Steve ran interference, asking all the questions about health and medicine while Ben set up the gurney and they moved him onto it. Steve helped them rush the guy into the ambulance and jumped into the driver’s seat, taking off with a squeal of tires. 

Joel had been through the wringer already that night so he began intubating while Ben tried shocking the old man but it wasn’t proving effective. They kept trying, rushing him into the hospital while Steve stood by. The emergency department took charge and Steve found out that the woman they’d brought in previously didn’t make it. 

In all likelihood the old man wouldn’t either. The paramedics went to the firehouse and proceeded to sleep the rest of the night away, apprehensive about the outcome. They usually didn’t get a lot of cardiac arrests, being that it was a small town and near a big city hospital where there were a lot of medical centers and excellent healthcare. Steve was already suspicious; sometimes there were people around who didn’t care who got hurt or died to further their own agenda. A navy buddy of his had been killed in the line of duty because his commanding officer was too arrogant to realize that the man had been sent into a situation that he didn’t have the proper training for. The memory of the incident still rankled him sometimes; the navy hadn’t taken steps to have the man dishonorably discharged or anything which proved to him corruption inevitably prevailed. 

“You’re awfully quiet, Steve,” Ben noted while they washed down the engine that morning after breakfast. “what about?” 

“I was just thinking of a navy buddy of mine who was killed in the line of duty. Stupid commanding officer or CO sent him into a situation and he had no training for it whatsoever and he never stood a chance.” he shut the recessed compartment with a thunk. 

“Sorry to hear that,” the firefighter’s reflexes still weren’t up to par but he felt marginally better after some sleep. “did the CO ever get what’s coming to him?”

“No and that’s what makes me mad,” Steve admitted, plying the hose with some anger. He cut off the stream, adjusting the nozzle before Joel could get mad. “he knew navy politics and worked it so the finger wasn’t pointed at him. Just goes to show you that corruption is permanent.” 

Ben was at a loss at what he could say to his friend. His vision wavered a little bit but he continued hosing down the fire engine with Steve, making a note to check with his doctor on his symptoms. He wouldn’t be of any use to his friends if he suddenly fainted on duty and was keen to avoid that at all costs. 

About half an hour before they were scheduled to leave the fire chief stopped by. “Gentlemen, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” he began. “the cops were called on both of the cardiac arrests last night and the autopsies are scheduled for tomorrow. I think it’s a high likelihood that the three cases are connected.” 

“Do you suspect a serial killer, boss?” Ben asked. 

Farris looked at the firefighter, clasping one hand on his shoulder. “I don’t want to, son, but I think it’s very probable. The cops have more information that they’ll divulge later on.” 

“I hear you. We will keep our ears to the ground.”

“I know you would. In the meantime Ben, go hit the sack. You look exhausted.” 

“I think we all are,” Joel drew the chief’s attention away from Ben’s fatigue ridden form. They thanked the chief, got their things and left the fire station. “see you in two days.” 

**

Katherine was perusing the magazine as Joel was driving his way home to her. She enjoyed seeing herself in print and especially enjoyed the picture of her on the exam table taken just after she started feeling the babies move. A candid that didn’t end up in the magazine was a black and white picture of Katherine sitting in a chair between takes with her hand on her belly, giggling as one of the babies moved. 

“Ready, Katherine?” it was time for her ultrasound so she lay on the exam table for real this time, pulling her shirt up to expose her bump. “Any movement?” 

“Oh yes,” the tech slathered her with gel and began taking pictures. The soundwaves transmitted back a live action rendering of what was going on inside the surrogate. Katherine watched as baby B did a little flip inside her, causing the belly to distort a little bit. “wow, they’re active!” baby A kicked her which caused the transducer to jump up and down. 

“You won’t get a restful night now.” the tech readjusted the transducer and took anatomy scans. 

“True that. But I won’t mind.” 

Joel came home to an empty house. Kelsey was off with Dawn for the day, he remembered, and Katherine had an ultrasound appointment. He would be able to flop down on the couch and go over the night in his mind for a few minutes then decided against it. What happened could not be undone. He chose to start a laundry and clean up instead. 

It didn’t take long for Katherine to come home. She put the newest ultrasound printout on the fridge then turned to look at Joel who liked coming up behind her to try to scare her all the time. 

“Not while I’m carrying twins,” she’d tell him. “you want me to shake these two loose prematurely? My goal is 39 weeks so I can be a record holder.” 

“Hey baby,” Joel kissed her. “how are all three of you doing?” 

“They’re moving a lot now believe it or don’t. These two will start fighting amongst themselves before you know it. I’d like to know what sex will look like with my planet belly looming up like an alien life form.” 

“Damn. Twice the pleasure..” 

“Twice the fun!” they touched noses together. 

“So,” Joel took her belly in his hands then brought Katherine in for a long sweet kiss. “you want to know what sex is like while pregnant with twins? What do you say we find out together?” 

“Oh, I could be persuaded..,” Joel backed Katherine into the bedroom, welded his lips to hers, then started tugging at her shirt. He steered her to the bed, sat her down, then pulled her shirt off of her, flinging it aside. “since when do they make shirts the color of bile acid?” 

“What?” 

“Your shirt,” she pulled it off of him. “it’s disgusting puke.” 

“Oh I’m so sorry,” Joel started necking her and kissing her all the way down to her chest. “I didn’t know my girlfriend’s fashion sense extended to mocking me and my choice of color.” 

“Damn right it does,” she necked him right back. “from now on any colors called puke or bile acid will be thrown out and stomped on.” 

“Lean back now,” Joel applied gentle pressure on Katherine’s shoulders. “let me work you over in the most erotic massage you’ve ever had.” 

“You’re letting someone else do it?” 

“Still an evil woman!” Joel pretended to pout. He took out Katherine’s favorite lotion, rubbed it into her every skin pore, working her from top to bottom. She was moaning by the time he was done then he leaned down over her, kissing her sweet lips. Katherine really did have the most kissable lips, the firefighter ruminated. They were dark pink, very full and she swore up and down all she did was keep them moist. The two of them closed their eyes, enjoying making out for a long moment. Joel went to town on her, kissing every inch from her neck to her belly. 

Katherine raised her hand up to cup the side of her lover’s face, both of them enthralled in the moment when one of the babies flipped, making her break the kiss and gasp, more startled than anything else. 

“What is it?” Joel asked her. 

“It’s nothing. I felt one of the babies move.” he glanced down to try to see it. 

“I don’t see anything.” 

“You might not for awhile. I’m feeling them do these little flips inside me. It happened today while I was getting the ultrasound so I know that’s exactly what they’re doing.” 

“Makes sense,” they resumed making out. “doesn’t hurt does it?” 

“No, it’s just little movements like a flutter.” 

“All right. This talk is killing my sex high,” Joel murmured, kissing Katherine’s clavicle. “no more talk.” 

“OK.” 

**

By the time Dawn returned with Kelsey the couple were lying on the bed together, the pink fresh and rosy in their cheeks, both of them looking very satisfied with their experience. It was easier than Joel thought it was, just give her a little more clearance. 

“I don’t remember it being this easy when you were pregnant with Kelsey.” Joel was sitting on the bed with Katherine, one arm across her shoulder, hugging her to himself. She kissed him, smiling, remembering how Kelsey had acted up when they’d been intimate, seemingly trying to stop her parents from having sex in front of her. 

“It was a learning curve. Now this is my second pregnancy we’re both more savvy on what to do. Besides, Kelsey was an active little shit and gave me no peace at all. These twins appear to be more laid back than she ever was.” 

“Hang on, even she wasn’t really active at this point,” the firefighter told her. “we hadn’t even felt her yet.” 

“True. Twins have their own agenda,” Katherine agreed. “they’ll be fighting with each other before you know it.” 

“Yes indeed.” a horn honk outside announced Dawn’s return. 

“Our little lady is back.” Joel helped Katherine shuffle off the bed, both went downstairs and greeted Dawn. 

Kelsey was definitely tired from her ordeal with her aunt so Joel picked her up, brought her upstairs and put her to bed while Katherine chattered with Dawn for a few moments. 

“So how’s baby life working for you?” 

“Not bad,” Dawn had shadows under her eyes. “exhausting.” 

“I hear you there,” she encouraged Dawn. “when Kelsey was four months own she had horrible colic. Joel and I were close to dropping with fatigue-he could barely work.” 

“Katherine, can I ask you something?” 

“Sure, go ahead.” Dawn didn’t know how Katherine managed it, raising a 1-year-old and become pregnant with twins almost simultaneously but Joel was her backup, her support which spoke a lot about them. Dawn felt nothing but love in that house, much like her mother’s house. 

“Did you ever nurse Kelsey?” 

A look of gentleness and understanding came over the teacher’s face. “I was set against it right from the beginning. Joel tried to help me get her to nurse but she wouldn’t do it.” 

“When was that?” 

“It was about thirty minutes or so after she was born.” 

“Oh. Usually it takes a day or two for the milk to come in. But the reason I’m asking you is because I’ve had such problems in that respect.” 

“What kind of problems?” they stood in the garage where Katherine turned on the space heater. Late May nights were still too chilly to be standing outside talking. 

“Well after Jordan was born for a month or two I could nurse fine. He’s almost five months now and I am drying up. It doesn’t make sense-some women can nurse for a year. I can’t supply what Jordan needs.” Dawn flushed red, embarrassed. 

“Did you see a lactation consultant?” 

“Yes and he implied it’s my fault. I’ll never see him again.” 

“Good!” Katherine sat on the stool Joel kept at the workbench while Dawn sat on the chair nearby. “You’re well shot of him anyway. What you have got to remember is that it’s not your fault at all. Our bodies are different and definitely peculiar in their own ways. Do not drag yourself down about it, just think that you’re doing the best you can. Before I gave birth I told Joel that I wasn’t going to spend hours with Kelsey welded to my tits-he was going to get in on the act and bottle feed her. It was very useful as he spent about half an hour with her a night in those early days, just rocking her and feeding her. Dads need to get in on the act; they can’t do it with Jordan or Kelsey attached to our teats.” 

“Think so?” Dawn had a glimmer of light in her eyes. 

“Of course! Don’t blame yourself, let Dad get in on the feeding act-they need to bond too. Do not let anyone shame you either. It’s none of their business.” 

“You’re right!” 

“Yes indeed. I want you to get some formula, be proud in giving Jordan some, there’s no shame in it, and be the best mom you can be!” Katherine uplifted Dawn’s spirits, seeing proof in the woman’s eyes as she seemed to get some of her energy back. “Plenty of moms formula feed like me and if anyone gives you shit, give it right back!” 

“I will! Thanks Katherine, I feel much better now!” 

“You’re welcome, Dawn,” she hugged her. “I know times get hard raising kids but we can get through it together. We need each other for support and don’t hesitate to call. When Joel and I were just starting out your excellent parents supported us so we will gladly do the same for you.” 

“Even for Josie?” Dawn walked out to her car followed by Katherine. 

“She’s a special case.” she rolled her eyes. 

“Spoiled brat syndrome.” 

“I guess. Call us anytime, all right? Have a great night.” 

“Thank you so much.” Dawn drove off with a smile playing on her lips.


	6. Chapter 6

“So Joel, today’s the day!” 

Joel looked up from where he’d been ruminating on the suspicious deaths while Katherine gave him a smile, sitting next to him on the couch. “What day?” 

“Well, tomorrow’s the day actually. It’ll be June 11th.” 

“Oh, Kelsey’s birthday!” he picked up the remote and muted the TV. “I almost forgot about it!” 

“Yeah! I know we don’t celebrate our own birthdays but we need to start celebrating hers. The first birthday was no big deal-I know she doesn’t remember it but we better start making a big deal of them. Kids expect it you know.” 

“Yeah I do. I remember my birthdays-lots of friends and parties, we even went out to that game complex in South Portland where we did mini golf with some sports.” 

“That sounds like fun. I usually did campouts with my pals. We liked to stay up, play with little girl makeup, that sort of thing.” 

“Gee, that sounds like fun,” Joel rolled his eyes. “a party is just more fun with a bunch of little girls looking like cavewomen!” 

“Oh fuck off! So what do you want to do?” 

“How about we invite my family over for a little party? I should go out and get some presents.” 

“Not a lot,” Katherine cautioned him. “only a few things. I don’t want her spoiled.” 

“Me neither. Besides, once you’re done with growing the twins here,” Joel nudged Katherine’s belly. “I get to send another batch of my soldiers in for a lucky chance.” 

“We’ll see. Give me some recovery time and I’ll consider it.” 

“Yeah, no Crohn’s flareups this time.” the firefighter went out to the stores while Katherine stayed behind to entertain Kelsey. The little girl entertained herself by putting her hands on her mother’s big bump and giving it long gentle strokes like she’d been taught. 

“I think that they’ll respond to you.” she was 26 weeks now and starting to feel very top heavy. If it wasn’t her stretched out bulging belly it was her sore chest. Her kidneys were working a little too efficiently for her liking, and all other aches and pains had been coming to her mind lately. The twins didn’t move a lot still but that would come in time. Their muscles were fully developed and Katherine waited for the first intrauterine fight, wondering what her belly would look like. She always had a camera nearby, waiting for that moment. 

“Baby!” Kelsey beamed, putting both little hands on her mother. “Kick!” the little girl seized a hold of Katherine’s shirt and yanked it up, digging one of her nails into her mother’s skin, giving her a little scratch. 

“Be gentle, Kelsey!” Katherine was aware of a faint stirring inside her, like Kelsey had woken one of the twins up. She glanced down at her daughter, brushing aside one of her blonde strands from her face as another movement grabbed her attention. “I think someone’s awake in there.” Katherine watched her belly for another moment then saw a little movement, like one of the twins had drawn its arm across the front of it. 

“See that?” she pointed. Another movement, like a little nudge happened on the opposite side. “They’re both moving!” 

It didn’t take long for Katherine to realize that now was the time when the twins were starting to notice that there was another person inside. There was a series of movement, mostly internal, seemingly trying to find the other baby. Just when one twin had pushed the other kicked at that same spot, Katherine knew that a twin battle was impending. She grabbed for the camera, put it on, then she and Kelsey watched the fight begin. 

It only lasted a minute or two but the teacher’s belly did many interesting movements, distorted her to odd proportions, and ended up in a series of kicks and jabs that weren’t visible but Katherine felt all of them. Kelsey giggled and cheered them on making Katherine roll her eyes. She got up and put her daughter to bed, then appraised herself in the bathroom mirror, stripping off her shirt and pants. 

“Wow,” she looked like she was full term with Kelsey. “this is interesting.” the teacher put on her nightshirt then walked into the bedroom. Her nightshirt, which had been rather long when she was pregnant with Kelsey, barely reached to her knees now. The material was all bunched up over her bump and as she tried to smooth it out one of the twins kicked her with surprising force. 

“I’m sure I got a couple of boys in there,” she grumbled, sitting down awkwardly. The teacher unbuttoned the area over her belly so the big bump loomed out. “only they would be so bad tempered.” her belly was super itchy so Katherine put some lotion on, rubbing over the babies like she normally would, smiling when both of them pushed her at almost the same time. 

“I hope you guys are born in the proper positions; I don’t want to have to get a C-section.” she warned them, lying propped up on the bed and picking up a book. 

When Joel arrived back he wrapped the little toys he’d gotten for Kelsey, put them in the closet, then retrieved a little cake from the car. Kelsey already had a sweet tooth and a five inch round cake would satisfy the guests. It was only Dawn, Estelle, Thomas, Jordan, and Dawn’s husband Darren. The firefighter glanced at Katherine, sleeping propped up, crept over to her, then ran a hand down her front. 

He’d kept his distance a little more than usual during this pregnancy; the twins weren’t theirs and he really wasn’t sure how to act around them. Katherine was unreserved in that respect; touching and talking to the babies all the time. He felt silly doing it to twins that weren’t his, thinking that it was a waste of his energy. But then even though Katherine would be having more children eventually, she wasn’t going to keep getting pregnant forever so he really had to cherish the moments when he could find them. 

Lucifer meowed from the bureau, narrowing his eyes at Joel as he got comfortable in bed. The cat hopped onto the bed, marched over to Joel and demanded head rubs which he got. 

“Think I’m getting too intimate with the babies that aren’t even mine?” he mumbled to the cat who nudged his hand for more pats. “I should just loosen up and explore what’s going on in there.” 

Lucifer marched over from Joel to Katherine, his paws on her ample chest, kneading comfortably. Katherine didn’t like him doing that to her; her breast was often too sore and kneading just made it worse. Joel supposed she had rubbed lotion in or she’d be smacking him off in a second. 

Speaking of which.. Joel surveyed the vast expanse of his girlfriend’s pregnant belly, pressing a hand down on it that Katherine had already rubbed lotion onto her skin. She was really big this time, looking huge from every angle and was almost twice as big as when the magazine article came out. The teacher knew what she was in for when she went in to get inseminated and now it seemed like time was moving faster. Religiously Joel had been snapping photos every week to measure how big Katherine was getting, wanting to savor every moment that he could. 

The firefighter put a hand on the bump, felt a small push then leaned over to kiss the belly. Another push followed, making Joel believe that one of the twins had woken up and might start moving more which would awaken Katherine and make her mad. 

“Go back to sleep in there,” he admonished in a low voice. “goodnight.” 

No more movement followed much to everyone’s relief. 

**

“Happy birthday dear Kelsey!” the adults sang, Joel bringing over the little cake. “Happy birthday to you!” 

“It’ll be a great day once we get you fully toilet trained.” the proud dad laughed, giving Kelsey a loaded plate. The now 2-year-old’s eyes lit up, picked up a piece and gulped it down, making a mess. 

“What time was she born, dear?” Estelle asked, sitting at the table. 

Katherine and Joel sat down near Kelsey, glancing at each other. “I don’t really remember. It was late afternoon, right?” 

“Evening. I think she was born around 7:30 or so. It says on the records somewhere.” 

“Doesn’t matter,” Thomas kissed Kelsey on the cheek. “she’s here now and certainly looking like my mother with that blonde hair!” 

“She does look like her, Dad,” Dawn agreed, lying Jordan in his car seat while Darren handed her a plate with a grin. “but those eyes are Mom and Joel’s.” 

“Oh yeah. Those eyes are Joel’s definitely,” Katherine giggled at Kelsey making a mess. “she looks at me when she’s mad that reminds me of Joel every time!” 

“The look that tells you he knows exactly what you’re thinking? I got that a lot growing up!” 

“You’re still getting it, sister!” Joel laughed. “You can’t get away from these baby blues.” 

“Hopefully our next child will have my eyes and be more like me.” Katherine pretended arrogance. 

“Then all of humanity will be doomed.” Joel deadpanned. 

“No, it will live in on my future son or daughter as they take over all major cities and build a dystopian empire.” she shot back. 

“You two set the bar high don’t you?” Thomas was used to Joel’s deadpan sense of humor but Katherine had a way of taking what he said and twisting it to such ludicrous proportions that everyone couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Oh we do indeed,” Katherine cleared her throat. “Dawn, how’s things going for you guys? Everything all right?” 

Joel’s sister nodded, putting a cup down. “Darren and I had a chat and we have much less stress on us now.” implying that they went the formula route with Jordan, got more sleep at night, and were in general happier people. Katherine’s smile shone like the sun while everyone chatted and gossiped. Eventually she took Kelsey, cleaned her up, then sat her on the couch in Joel’s lap while the presents were assembled for her to open. 

“Since Mama’s pregnant Dad gets all the lap duty,” the firefighter sang out happily, watching his daughter tear off wrapping paper left and right. “go to town, kiddo.” 

“Katherine dear, how are you doing?” Estelle asked solicitously as the teacher sat down in the recliner. 

“I’m doing all right, Estelle. The babies have become more active now and they seem to know that they’re not alone in there. There’s some intrauterine fighting going on and sometimes the left baby gets hung up near my ribcage but I don’t mind.” Katherine was wearing her light blue maternity top that showed off her belly but it was getting a little tight. 

As she spoke the left baby stretched out, making the fabric bunch up, giving Estelle a glimpse of Katherine’s skin near her waist. “The tops are getting a little tight.” 

“It seems so, Katherine!” Katherine pushed the fabric down. “You look like you did when you were nine months.” 

“Very true. I feel that way but this is only the halfway point.” they were interrupted by Kelsey’s shrieks of glee as she opened up her toys. Joel had gotten her a few new clothes, some new shoes, and one of those stacking ring sets all toddlers liked. Dawn and Darren had given her some new books to read, Estelle and Thomas had given Kelsey a little kiddie piano keyboard. 

“So you can learn piano like your mama!” Estelle kissed Kelsey on the forehead. The toddler squealed in joy as Thomas turned it on and she began to strike the keys erratically. 

A few minutes later Dawn said it was time to feed Jordan to which Joel immediately volunteered. He picked up his nephew, cradled him securely and gave him a bottle. Jordan was hungry and he emptied the bottle in no time at all. The firefighter was used to the routine, so he draped a cloth over his shoulder, tilted Jordan up and began to rub his back. Jordan emitted a series of explosive belches that one would never have thought possible from a little baby. 

“Oh god,” Katherine took Jordan for a moment, giving him a kiss. “good things come in small packages, right, baby?” Jordan answered in a thunderous belch. 

“I think that sums him up!” Darren laughed. “Just like his dad in every way.” 

The only reply was more giggling and laughing, spoiling Kelsey with attention as they watched her play with her new toys then she started getting tired. Katherine handed Jordan to Darren who put him in his car seat, then Joel picked up Kelsey. “You’re getting tired, sweetie.” 

“N. .no.” he chuckled. The grandparents said goodbye, Dawn, Darren and Jordan said goodbye, and the little family were alone again. 

“You know Katherine, I was thinking while I was feeding Jordan that I’m feeling the time will be right for us to have another baby, maybe next year.” Joel came up behind the teacher as she put her nightshirt back on. 

She turned to face him, the shirt refusing to slide down her big belly. “I’ve gotten so big hardly any of my outfits fit me anymore.” the teacher undid the buttons, slid the fabric down, then tried to button them up again. 

“Time for shopping again. Let it all hang out, I’m the only one here. You know I have the fetish for you when you’re like this.” 

“Oh, someone’s turned on all right. The scary thing is my belly isn’t done growing out yet.” 

“Missing your pre pregnancy body?” Joel started to neck her. “I can’t help but get turned on by it.” 

“Yeah, you would but remember I’m huge and I am starting to get clumsy. My center of gravity is all messed up.” 

“Well, just remember you have two babies growing inside you,” he felt himself get hard. “they are in the very place I want to stick myself in right now.” 

“Oh, so you like the big bump, huh? Imagine how I was when I was pregnant with Kelsey. You put her there,” she backed him towards the bed, made him sit down, then took his hands, running them all over the bump. “she was a little brat inside me, kicking me at all hours of the night, throwing hissy fits, making me nuts! The twins are twice as bad.” 

“Are they?” the firefighter liked watching them move but didn’t see a lot of it lately. 

“Yeah,” Katherine drew his hands over the center of her big belly. “can you feel them right now?” 

“Not yet. Are they moving?” 

“Yeah. I feel them doing acrobatics inside me right now.” 

“Inside you,” Joel mumbled, allowing Katherine to shift his hands so he felt a few kicks. “that’s where my dick wants to be.” 

“Well, I’ll be happy to home your dick,” she teased him. “how long does it want to stay in there-I’m sorry, inside me?” 

“As long as it takes to get the job done.” 

“What’s it’s mission?” Katherine leaned Joel down and gave him a good long kiss. Her belly rippled and contorted as the twins began to fight again. The firefighter distinctly felt a few sharp pokes and kicks then put his hand where they emanated from. 

“To get you pregnant over and over again.” 

“What if I’m already pregnant?” she breathed in his ear, making him wild with pleasure. 

“That’s why my dick will keep trying. Multiple visits,” he moaned, feeling his girlfriend put her hands on his thighs and take off his pants. “to give you multiple orgasms too.” 

“Oh, I like that. Well, if you’re at full mast and want to board my ship, go right ahead.” Joel retaliated by pinning her down with a devilish grin, penetrating her and going to town. Through it all the belly stood proudly, the two babies kicked and fought each other, oblivious to what their surrogate and boyfriend were really doing. 

When they were done, Joel took Katherine’s hand, put it on her belly and watched her face as her whole belly contorted. Fascinated, a concave indent appeared. They put their hands on it, feeling it recede down until it disappeared completely. “I think that was a head.” 

“Felt like it,” she grimaced. “the right twin is like a shark-look!” the right twin rolled over, sticking its back in the air and pressing up. 

“Kelsey used to do that.” 

“Yes she did. Now I’m not sure if I have babies or animals in me by the shapes.” Katherine reclined back, her pink nightshirt open at the belly and the rest of the way down. She couldn’t button it after the belly and soon her chest would get too big so a shopping trip was in order. 

“You must miss seeing your feet.” Joel was admiring how the belly stuck up so straight and true, seeing the little movements the left baby was making. Who would have guessed she would be so big at the halfway mark? 

“You’re not helping.” both hands rested on top of the bump, going up and down as she breathed while the babies tried to kick it off. 

“Sorry, babe.” 

**

The next day was a school day. Joel spent the day with Kelsey while Katherine got herself into a maternity skirt and top, ignoring the half inch of bare skin at the very bottom. During the drive the babies got into a fight but cooled off while the teacher walked into the classroom. Her entire class was paying attention to what she was teaching them but all eyes were on her belly. 

“Mrs. Harrison?” 

“Yes, Dennis?” 

“My mom saw the magazine that you were in and she says it’s a sick thing that girls will do for money, sell themselves.” 

Katherine’s jaw fell open. Here was the kickback she had anticipated from the article. “OK, if anyone has anything more to say on the subject I open up the floor.” 

Several students remarked that their parents said it was a disgusting thing to go-carry babies for money, how some people were not supposed to have children, and most seemed to think that Katherine was trashing adoption. Some parents had even said that it wasn’t a good thing to do for someone who aligned herself with a particular faith. 

“First off, I’m not even religious-I don’t go to church,” Katherine declared. “remember, and I don’t want to go into religion here too much, that life is precious and should be cherished. I am giving deserving parents the option of having a biological baby or in this case babies if they want them. They can adopt if they want to, or they can use my uterus. I signed on with a surrogacy agency and yes, I deserve to be compensated for my medical care because it is their babies in here.” 

“But Mrs. Harrison, how do they get in there if they’re not yours?” 

“Excellent question, Rayne,” the teacher told her. “they take the eggs from the mother, the sperm from the dad, then fertilize it themselves in a petri dish. It forms an embryo while in the meantime candidates for surrogacy are interviewed, the parents pick the one that they want, meaning me, then I went in for insemination. Through the use of ultrasound imaging, the doctor put the embryos inside a little syringe with a long tube on the end. The tube goes up inside me, the doctor looks to see where the best site is to implant and does so. Dr. Tibbetts put three embryos inside me, two of them turned into babies.” 

“What happened to the other one?” 

“It didn’t implant. Anyway I have two babies inside of me right now, the parents are happy, I’m happy, that’s all that matters.” one of the babies pushed hard, making her belly jump. “Did you all see that?” 

After the standard belly measurement, Katherine was amazed to see how fast she was growing. The class was called for lunch so she could sit down and grade some papers. Thoughtfully she marked off the tests, finished her work, then glanced down at the bump. It appeared one of the twins was moving side to side which made her chuckle. “I hope you guys enjoy it down there!” 

That time Katherine felt a new movement, coming from behind one of the twins. She jumped almost out of her chair and wondered about how possible it could have been for a possible triplet to be missed on ultrasound examinations. Her next appointment was at 30 weeks and she could ask then. “Have I got a triplet inside me? Can they be missed on ultrasound?” 

One of the twins pushed her so she put a hand over it, feeling a few more as the baby tried to get comfortable. “Calm down in there all right?” 

When the workday was over, Katherine went into the maternity store to get some new clothes. She tried on a bigger nightshirt, got a few looser tops, and with the possibility of another baby undetected inside her she opted for the bigger sizes just on general principle. The teacher came home that night satisfied with her haul and while she was preparing to go to bed Joel was preparing to go to the firehouse tomorrow. 

“Well, the kickback from the article happened,” Katherine felt huge and not sexy at all as she put her new nightshirt on. Joel turned to face her from where he had been standing, Lucifer on the back of his neck. “my students told me their parents had been making nasty comments.” 

“Such as?” she slid on the nightshirt and lay down on the bed. 

“Such as I’m maligning adoption, selling myself for money, essentially whoring myself out to the highest bidder. If people want an agenda they’ll make one,” the firefighter started kissing Katherine’s neck and chest, opening up her buttons. “it frustrates me a bit they can’t see all the good I’m doing by allowing myself to be inseminated and carrying babies to term for people who want them.” he undid the buttons over the belly, watching the fabric pull away and reveal her swollen bump in all its glory. 

“Don’t sweat it,” he kissed and tongued her belly, eyes closed. Katherine giggled, making her bump tight and jiggle up and down. Both of the babies lashed out with a flurry of pushes and kicks. “who asked them anyway?” 

“True,” she sighed. “you seem to have gotten over the fact that these aren’t yours-you’re all over me like you were when Kelsey was inside me.” 

“What are you implying?” Joel worked on her belly, determined to get those nerve endings to her clit all fired up. 

“I’m saying that when we had sex back when I wasn’t so big you hardly touched my stomach at all. I figured that’s because they aren’t your babies. You were more reserved.” 

“That is because I got over it,” he raised himself up enough to kiss her lips. “the twins might not be yours but your allure is irresistible. Katherine, you’re sexy at any given time but when you’re pregnant it’s unbelievable. You have that hot sensuality and when you look like this it just drives me wild.” 

The teacher laughed, jiggling her bump back and forth, causing more movement. “Does the fact I seem to be filled to capacity have anything to do with it?”

“You’re so big you can’t have another one in there.” Joel straddled her legs, both hands on her midsection. “Could you?” 

“Well, today I felt something that I know wasn’t the twins. It came from behind them.” 

“You could very well have three in there. It’s common for the third one to be missed, especially if it’s behind another baby.” 

“I’ll bring that up at the next ultrasound appointment.” she submitted to Joel’s caresses willingly, escalating the situation until they were both giving in to their carnal desires. 

**

A few days later while Joel was at the firehouse, he and Steve were getting worried about Ben. It seemed that their friend had been in a lethargic state for a little more than a month and he didn’t seem to be getting any better. He performed all right in the field but it was still worrisome for them, thinking that there was a possibility that Ben could collapse at any given moment and compromise their safety. Someone’s bonfire had gotten out of control, Ben had answered the call, then when coming in from the garage after the fact had nearly fallen over. Nobody had seen him stumble but still he carried on, determined to perform his job. 

Katherine had taken Kelsey to the park for a change, sporting a brand new black and white chevron maternity top and jeans. She lathered her daughter up with sunscreen and set her loose to play with her friends in the sandbox. 

Some of the other people there were definitely turning up their noses at Katherine, flinching away like she was a disease. The teacher pretended not to notice, making everyone else uncomfortable but her. When Katherine’s brother had picked on her as a kid she’d developed the I don’t care aura about her which worked wonders. 

A few of the other parents stopped and chatted her up, asking how it was going. A mom of triplets joked with Katherine while they fed their kids a late snack and Katherine asked if she’d known she was pregnant with triplets right from the start. 

“It took a bit of time for all three to become distinguishable from the get go,” the mom admitted. “after a long time of developing the ultrasound finally caught on to the fact that there was a third baby inside me.” 

“How long?” 

“Generally almost 7 months. If they’re hiding behind another baby it won’t register but there’s something to bring up to your doctor.” 

“I will definitely do that,” Katherine put her hands on top of her bump while the kids ran out to play. “I felt something that didn’t come from the other two babies. We never officially wrote off the third baby; just assumed it didn’t implant like the others. If it did take and it was behind someone else than it’s a possibility.” 

“Exactly right. It explains why you’re growing out of your clothes so fast.” 

“I thought it was just because there were two.” 

“Oh no!” the mom chuckled. “Standard maternity clothes can do twin pregnancies easily but with three you need the bigger sizes.” 

“Well, does this look like a triplet belly to you?” Katherine opened up her khaki jacket. The bump sat proudly at her waist, jutting out like a sore thumb. A head poked out from the right, moved up three inches and disappeared. 

“Oh I think you’ve got it! Just be on the lookout for any new movement you haven’t felt before, from what side, etc.” 

“It’s been at the back of the baby on the right side,” a rough kick assaulted her from behind the right baby. “oh, I think that was him.” 

“You’ve got the third baby in there!” the mom encouraged her. 

Just then several moms walked by making snarky comments about Katherine. “There’s that teacher who’s carrying babies that aren’t even hers, for shame!” 

“Anything for money, right?” 

“Some people shouldn’t have children!” 

“Oh, you’re all just jealous,” Katherine said airily, winking at the triplet mom who smirked. “I get a free ride and I’m very much enjoying myself, thank you very much.” 

“My kids are in your class,” one dad piped up. “he speaks so highly of you!” 

“Aw, who’s your son?” 

“Adam.” 

“He’s a very intelligent kid!” Katherine buttoned her jacket at her chest, letting the sides dangle down and her belly protrude. As if in agreement, the bump did another little ripple then shook slightly just once. The mother of triplets, after permission, touched the gravid bump, rubbing it lightly and very fast so it provoked a reaction. The twins stepped up their antics, one of them rocking back and forth so fast its head poked out further than Katherine had ever seen before. 

“Oh my god!” she exclaimed. “I swear I saw the back of his head!” 

The mom nodded happily. “That was my you’re-being-obnoxious-brats-and-Mom’s-getting-even rub. Stirs them up and they settle down.” 

“I gotta remember that trick,” Katherine had been uncomfortable before but now the babies seemed to be settling down. “it’s working too.” 

“Remember light and fast. It mixes ‘em up enough and takes all the fight out of them.” 

The teacher got to her feet and called Kelsey. “Thanks so much. They’re not moving at all.” no movement internally registered with Katherine as she got Kelsey into the stroller and started walking home.


	7. Chapter 7

“Well, it’s thirty weeks now!” the ultrasound tech announced. “You know the drill!” Katherine got onto the cot, pulled up her shirt and shivered as the cold gel was squirted onto her vast bump. Trying to relax and see the picture, Katherine could see they had installed a new monitor on the wall right in front of her so she could see everything. 

“Are we sure that the other embryo never implanted?” the teacher started in. “I started feeling some movement last month that was behind one of the other babies.” 

“Hmm.. it seems like it was never ruled out definitively. We were hoping for twins and got twins inside you now so we didn’t look any further. Today will put a new light on it.” 

“I hope so.” it took a few minutes of looking with the ultrasound but the tech spotted what looked like a pair of tiny feet sticking out behind the right side baby. 

“Oh my god, look at that!” a better angle was found and Katherine was told to cough a few times to shift the other baby away. After she did so the third baby was revealed. 

“I didn’t feel this one until recently.” Katherine’s jaw hit the floor as the previously undetected third baby drifted about in the fluid, the head towards the transducer as the other baby’s head was away. 

“They’re shifting like puzzle pieces. Typically babies at the back can be harder to detect, especially when someone is right in front of them. I think you’re feeling them both when they fight to shift positions,” the third baby pushed up with both hands, resulting in a firm movement which Katherine felt. “now it’s older you’re feeling it on its own when not fighting with the others.” 

“Oh god I feel like a funhouse now,” the gel was starting to get a little itchy. “baby C and A fight all the time but does baby B ever fight with baby C?” 

“Oh yes. Let me get a better picture here,” the three placentas looked like a warped picture of a pie graph. “see, the placentas are better cushioned where they meet each other so even though it may seem like they’re fighting violently they won’t get hurt,” a few minutes later of careful screening and the gender was determined. “it seems that all the babies are boys.” 

“Aw, no girl?” 

“Not that I can see. I think your carrying rate just went up,” the tech smiled, printing out a new updated picture and sending Katherine on her way. “see you in September!” 

September would be 38 weeks for her. Katherine felt like she was walking on air as she went home that night; 30 weeks pregnant with triplet boys! Joel found her irresistible enough when they thought she was carrying twins but the fact that she was indeed carrying three would make him unable to keep his hands off of her. He loved how big she got so this would be a big deal for him. 

“My god,” she ran her hand over her belly after getting out of the car at home. “three boys to pulverize my guts! I can’t believe it!” 

Joel’s SUV was in the driveway and he was standing in the garage, rubbing sandpaper all over an old cabinet he wanted to restore. Kelsey played nearby with her new toys while Katherine debated the best way to tell her boyfriend. 

The firefighter was caught up in his work; the cabinet had come from his father who couldn’t manage the restoration work as his arthritis was getting bad. Joel put the sandpaper aside, rubbed a damp rag over the cabinet to remove all the dust, then caught sight of Katherine standing there watching him. 

“So how did it go?” he put the rag on top of an old can of paint then picked up a screwdriver. 

“I have some news for you.” pausing in his work, Joel knew that whenever Katherine told him something like that it was usually serious. Thoughts of possible emergency situations flitted through his head but of course it wasn’t anything that bad. 

“Oh yes?” she went up to him, pressing their bodies together while one baby protested, lashing out with a punch. 

“I’m having boys.” 

“Nice. That’s it?” 

“No.” 

“Don’t tease me, girl.” Katherine drew back, took his hands and put them at the sides of her stomach. 

“They confirmed I’m having triplets.” 

“Holy!” he kissed her deeply. “I don’t know who gave that super sperm but I need to take a lesson from him.” 

“You want a boy next time?” 

“Well, we’ve already got a girl.” 

“True. Well, when that time comes I’ll have to put in a word for you.” he started laughing. 

“I knew your belly was too big to be just twins in there. With three it looks right.” 

“I started feeling the third triplet a few weeks ago when it was stronger.”

“I believe it. Damn, you have got to write that follow up on your experience; I heard some negative blowback about it. A lot of people think you’re whoring yourself out and the like.” 

“Don’t acknowledge it, Joel.” 

“I won’t but this is so amazing. How about we get some supper started?” he picked up Kelsey and they started upstairs. 

After supper the couple sat on the couch watching TV. Kelsey was cranky so she was already put to bed, Joel was absently texting Steve to see if Ben was feeling any better. 

“You’re still worried about Ben?” Katherine saw his phone.

“Yeah. He’s so lethargic now, Katherine. He can do his job but he doesn’t seem to have the energy for anything else.” 

“Did he get bloodwork done?”

“Yeah and he’s fine. No chronic illnesses or nothing.” 

“That’s mysterious.” Joel studied his girlfriend in the low light. Her new maternity shirt was plum with a deep neckline and empire waist so it fitted her comfortably. No amount of clever stitching now could conceal the triplet belly from anyone’s eyes. She was almost asleep, leaning against the back of the couch, one hand on top of the belly, the other lying at her side. 

“They’re not putting on a show for me in there are they?” 

“No but they will.” 

“Come on, lover girl, time for bed.” he helped her up. 

Katherine was out as soon as her head hit the pillow. Once Joel made sure she was asleep he drew back the covers, gently tickling her skin as he tried to get one of the triplets to move gently. The triplets had divided their surrogate’s uterus into thirds, one at the top and one on each side. The firefighter wanted the one closest to him to move so he pressed his hand down once, pushed a little bit and let off. 

A little fist replied, making an indentation in Katherine’s skin. A few kicks followed, then the form of the head pressed out as the baby turned itself around. “Wow.” it was like a puppet show in there, he thought. Joel pressed his lips to the bump “Be good inside your birth mom.” teasingly he ran his hand over the entire expanse of Katherine’s baby bump, marveling at how big she was. When she had been pregnant with Kelsey it was just one, so her uterus had grown up and formed a smooth curve back down right to her pelvis, then as Kelsey got bigger the top had expanded out which resulted in a smooth nine month curve. 

Now that Katherine was having triplets all three of them had distorted her body. There was no graceful curve now, just an outward swelling that eclipsed her lap and was bigger than anything he’d seen. The belly sat at her hips, no graceful tapering down to her pelvis like before. Her uterus needed all the space it could get so Katherine had jokingly called herself the mothership. 

A triplet pregnancy was very different, Joel thought. She was more likely to deliver at 32 weeks and up but he didn’t think that Katherine was in any danger of preterm labor. When she was pregnant with Kelsey she’d been frustrated as she was almost 42 weeks before she went into labor and Joel had delivered her. It wasn’t likely she’d carry more than 36 weeks because of the inner competition between babies for nutrients. But Katherine was game and wanted to hold the babies in until 39 weeks if possible, or until she was so tired and frustrated with being pregnant that she wanted them out. 

No matter what happened it was far off in the future. The teacher would be going into labor in the fall and she was set on the first week of October. Whether the babies cooperated was a different story. In the meantime Joel was marveling about how big she was and how much space she took up in the bed as well. While Katherine lay flat and drew the covers up her belly was even bigger. The firefighter complained as he never got any covers anymore. It was better for Katherine to sleep propped up now so the babies didn’t feel like they were crushing her but Joel still didn’t get a lot of covers to sleep in. 

With warmer weather that wasn’t really an issue anymore. Katherine slept without any covers on her gargantuan belly now. The firefighter was happy with that; more covers were never a problem with him! He had to get used to waking up facing a big belly but didn’t mind. 

That night he fell asleep with one hand on Katherine’s bump. 

**

The next morning Katherine took off her nightshirt and put it on her pillow, folding it up nicely. The recently discovered third baby didn’t like her bending down even slightly so he let her know it, flipping around in her uterus and pushing out hard, making her gasp, putting a hand where it hurt. 

“Which one was it?” 

Katherine sat on the edge of the bed, opening up her robe so the bump spilled out in front of her. “The newly discovered one. He may be late to the show but he’s certainly letting me know he’s there now. Once he starts the other two will start up. I’m so glad it’s Saturday.” 

“I bet,” Joel had to go to work that day. “so what do you think will happen when the other two wake up?” 

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “it’s getting to the point now where the babies rolling around is uncomfortable as they’re getting big.” 

Joel took his cell phone and put it on top of the bump, waited, then saw one of the unborn babies push it, making it jump. Katherine laughed a belly laugh, making all three of then wake up and start wrestling around in there. “Just my luck the new one is trying to make mincemeat out of my spleen!” 

All three of the babies were in such a snit that Katherine’s entire belly jumped up and down, a huge effort on their part. “Oh my god, wow!” 

“They’re in odd moods!” the left one stretched out lazily, the top of the head protruding out. “The left one doesn’t seem perturbed by his brothers’ antics now does he?”

“He’s the mellow one.” they watched the triplets move for a few more minutes the Joel straightened up, kissed Katherine and Kelsey goodbye. 

“Stay safe, sweetie.” the teacher said softly to Joel. 

“You too. Keep these three safe.” he kissed her belly, making her go hot. Katherine thought Joel at his most protective and sweet with her was just the biggest turnon that there was. She loved it when he touched her belly, pregnant or not, and just couldn’t get enough of him. 

**

The firefighter arrived at the firehouse, his mind still buzzing with the news that Katherine was carrying three not two. Steve greeted him with his customary grin, working out with the dumbbells in the gym, and Ben was dozing on the recliner in the living room. 

“So how’s that pretty girlfriend of yours?” Steve walked into the kitchen and grabbed his water bottle from the fridge. “She’s getting pretty big now, huh?” 

“Oh, you have no idea how big.” 

“That some kind of subliminal message?”

“No, Katherine found out that the third embryo that had been put inside her actually took root and she’d got three babies stuffed inside her.” 

“Wow!” 

“I know, right? I’d love to meet the guy who shot nines like that. That’s not just spunk; that’s super fucking spunk! The spunk all from the same batch produced three viable embryos that made their home inside my super fertile girlfriend!” 

“I can hardly believe it. How did she know?” 

“Says she felt another baby kicking behind one of the others. When she had the ultrasound she got the other baby to move out of the way. Turns out the third baby had been pinned down by the other one and wasn’t happy about it.” 

“I certainly wouldn’t be!” 

“So they got the baby to move and the third baby was shown in all its glory.” 

“From what I remember the triplet pregnancies don’t really go past 36 weeks.” 

“Well, Katherine’s determined to hit 39 weeks but she could go into labor at any time pretty much, after 32 weeks.” 

“How was she with Kelsey?” 

Joel tried to remember. “With Kelsey it was a little different. She was the first and wasn’t keen to leave her home. To be honest Katherine didn’t want to give birth to her as being pregnant was easy and the next 18 years were the hard part.” 

“I believe it.” 

“So she went into labor on June 11th and ended up delivering sometime that night, I can’t remember when exactly.” 

“You were there, right?” 

“Of course-I delivered her!” Steve laughed. “I was the first thing my daughter saw; I gave her a bath, cut the cord, everything. Katherine needed a bit of pain relief after the birth so I gave her some, and the rest is history.” 

“Now I know why she’s such a daddy’s girl.” 

“Damn straight,” Joel preened then shifted his glance to Ben. “has he been any better?” 

“He’s just the same. Maggie’s noticed the difference too and remarked to me on it. He’s just so lethargic and all his test results are clean.” 

“There’s nothing we can do about it then.” 

“No, but I’d like to.” just then the tones dropped; another cardiac arrest. Steve roused Ben and all three of them went off to the location. 

When they arrived at the park, the bystanders told them that the woman had just collapsed so Steve was able to start CPR almost immediately while Joel and Ben called to the emergency room, telling them there was another cardiac arrest case and they were bringing her in. 

The whole procedure was extremely familiar now; Steve intubated the woman, Joel drove to the emergency room and Ben provided backup, logging information into the computer file they kept onboard. Fortunately the emergency room was less than ten minutes from the park and after about a minute of shocking the patient a steady heartbeat filled the monitor. 

“Well, she’s stable for the moment,” Ben gave her an IV saline drip, wincing at the way the room spun against him, then shut his eyes briefly. “what’s our ETA?”

“Thirty seconds!” Joel brought them in, the other two brought the lady into the intensive emergency care ward and left. 

“I really hope that this woman makes it. I do not want to call the chief and tell him we got another dead one.” Steve slid into the cab with Ben, who shut his eyes the way back to the firehouse. Steve had to wake him when they got back, so he stumbled off to the bunkroom for a nap. 

“Well well,” Steve went upstairs as well. “you’ve become such a slug lately, Ben, it’s within the past two months. You’re missing out on life.” he took Ben’s pulse which was normal. 

“What have I missed out on really?” 

“Katherine. She likes you and you’re always too tired to say hi now. Joel told me some incredible news about her.” 

“What is it? Is she OK?” 

“She’s fine. See, you miss out on the gossip when you’re too zonked out to care. Katherine found out this past week that she’s not carrying twins like she originally thought; she’s got three in there.” 

“My god! She must be huge.” 

“She’s getting there. Apparently one of the babies was missed on the ultrasound-it’s brother kept blocking it from view. She got it to move and the baby was revealed. He says she only noticed it when it got stronger and began kicking her when it was blocked by the other baby.” 

“Some guys are so mean before they’re born.” Ben’s eyelids shut. 

“I’d rather have them nasty before they’re born and nice after!” Steve left him alone, thumping downstairs and joining Joel to watch TV. 

Another call came in then; someone in peewee football had broken his leg during warmups so they went and fixed that. There was a gas leak at a utilities company, and so on until the day had passed and they were coming back from another call. 

“Broken bone, gas leak, three grill fires, two drunk drivers, one texting driver, one moose on the road driving accident, and a multicar pileup,” Steve snorted as he left the engine. “morons, every last one of them. If I wanted to scrape dead people off the side of the road I’d be a funeral director.” 

Joel agreed, taking out some supper and putting it in the microwave. Ben picked up his coffee he’d left behind when they went out to the pileup and drained it, not liking the fact it was cold. When Joel and Steve were both done with their dinners they noticed that Ben had gone pale. 

“What is it?” they asked simultaneously. Ben did not say a word but his eyes rolled up and he collapsed to the floor. 

“Whoa, Ben!” his vital signs were normal but since he wasn’t responsive to anyone they had to haul him in. “Thanks for letting us eat first!” Steve drove this time while Joel gave the fallen firefighter an IV line. Ben was offloaded, taken into emergency, etc, then the two remaining firefighters had to leave. 

“Um, boss?” Joel called the chief and told him the story. “Ben’s been looking delicate and tired for two months now and he’s finally collapsed.” 

Farris sighed. “Thanks for letting me know, Joel. I’ll get a relief guy to come in on the next shift.” 

“All right, chief.” 

“So what do we do?” Steve asked from his bed. Joel changed his shirt and got into bed himself. 

“Wait and hope I guess,” he remembered that line from Katherine’s favorite book, the Count of Monte Cristo. “wait and hope.” 

Steve giggled. “What kind of shmuck came up with that?” 

Joel didn’t answer, falling asleep. His dreams were full of his friends collapsing, indecipherable signs, faces that were always silhouetted. It was a restless night, a kind of night where he would have welcomed some calls in order to wake up and get back to sleep and dream peacefully but it didn’t work. Luck was apparently not on his side that night. 

When the morning came, Joel was not ready for it and neither was Steve. They got up and got ready, not talking much, then Farris came by as they were finishing their breakfast. 

“Morning, gentlemen,” he said, sitting down with them. “I wanted to give you guys an update on Ben. He collapsed though the doctors don’t know why yet and he must have some sort of unidentified injury because they can’t find anything wrong with him.” 

“Has anyone thought to test him for drugs?” Steve inquired. “I’m not saying he’s doing them but it should be checked.” 

“He tested clear for the big ones,” Farris sighed. “but there’s more to the story.” 

“Like what, boss?” 

“Like the fact that Ben is now completely unresponsive and he’s gone into a coma.” Steve paled, Joel turned white in the face. “the problem now is that his lungs have become paralyzed so he’s been put on a ventilator. Until he wakes up he’s not going anywhere.” 

“Damn. How am I going to break this to Katherine? She really loves Ben.” 

“Ah, Katherine,” Farris turned to Joel. “I read that article she wrote and she just was glowing all throughout it, super complimentary to the doctor, pretty pictures, all of it. How is she now?”

“They discovered a third baby inside her after she began feeling it move around. Huge surprise!” 

“Wow!” Farris smiled. “She has a charmed life with you and your daughter, Joel. I wish them all well.” 

“Thanks, boss.” they waved the chief out of the firehouse. 

“Do you think we should go and have a look at Ben?” Steve asked hesitantly as Joel stood at the workbench in the garage, trying to decide what to do until they left at the end of the shift. 

“I don’t think that would help. His family will be there and Maggie will be distraught. I don’t want to intrude,” the firefighter answered. “we can’t do anything there anyway.” 

“True. Feel like greasing something?” 

“Yeah, what have you got?”

“Well, how about you oil up this squeaky door hinge here? I need to mend this leaky light off the trailer in the storage shed.” he sent Joel off with a can of WD-40, then brought out the rear light on the utility trailer that housed their rowboat. 

Steve opened up the outer casing of the light, shining it under a magnifying glass to detect where the leak was, then ran the casing under the faucet in the corner. It dripped steadily from the left side so he ran his fingers over it to mark the area, dried off the casing and used epoxy to reseal the light. The epoxy needed heat to activate the bonding so Steve warmed up the little toaster oven in the kitchen, slid the light in and gave it twenty minutes to bond. 

Joel put away the can of grease then did the most monotonous chore in the firehouse which was washing windows. He thought about Ben, then his mind veered over to Katherine again. Like always his thoughts turned to his near spitting image, Kelsey. She had taken it in stride it seems of her mother’s pregnancy; Kelsey was far too young to understand what pregnancy was nor the fact that the three babies her mother was carrying didn’t belong to them. 

One hour later the firefighters were done their chores, the trailer light had no leaks in it when Steve tested it, and they were able to leave. 

At the same time Katherine was taking a shower. Dawn had come to take Kelsey for a few hours so Katherine decided to treat herself. She rubbed a candy scented balm on her limbs, liberally coating her gravid bump with the sweet scented lather. The three babies responded to her caresses, beginning a lot of little taps and nudges that seemed out of character for them. In any direction Katherine turned there was a lot of bumps and kicks that could be seen with the naked eye now. She toweled off, put on a skirt with the white and black chevron top, then went out into the living room. 

“You triplets were put inside me to punish me, weren’t you?” 

The baby on the left side kicked her without any aggression, a nice lazy love tap that his brothers seemed unwilling to do. Katherine put her hand where the baby kicked, smiling happily. “I think you’re my favorite in there.” another kick and she cupped the spot, lightly rubbing it. 

“So what do you say, are your brothers being total assholes inside me and you’re the only good one?” three kicks and a push which she took as a sign that she was right. The baby on the right made a little movement, Katherine turned to look, then there was an almighty push; the head poked out, moved up, then followed the upper curve of the uterus where it receded back. The teacher could have sworn she saw an indent where the nose was but her uterus was too thick to show any details. 

“Damn. I think you guys are going to give me a run for my money.” the third triplet decided to have a stretch, arching his back out so that Katherine saw it just below her bust. She trailed one finger down the center, making the third baby recoil back then poke his head out in agitation. 

“Ow! You’re the troublemaker!” 

Joel arrived home a few minutes later, opening up the door and turning the air conditioner on as it was a hot and humid day. He brought his clothes inside, threw them into the laundry basket, went upstairs, then saw Katherine sitting on the couch with her feet up on the coffee table reading her favorite book. What was remarkable to Joel was that he could plainly see all three babies being active by the way Katherine’s belly moved about, her shirt was showing all signs of life inside her and she was ignoring all of it. 

“How about that?” Joel mumbled, sitting next to her. “Hey honey.” 

“Hey babe,” she kissed him. “uneventful?” 

“No,” he shook his head. “it’s Ben.” 

“What happened to him?” Katherine was fond of Ben; he had helped Joel in his times of need, stood by Katherine when she was sick last year with a flare and both of them had helped Ben when his depression attacked a few times. He had Maggie now but he still needed his friends. 

“Ben, well remember when I said he was acting pretty lethargic the past few months? The dizziness, the fatigue, but he still performed well in his job?”

“I do. Did something happen?” she grimaced a tiny bit as one of the triplets pushed its brother. 

“Ben collapsed today at the firehouse. We ended up taking him in. The next morning the chief comes in and gives us an update on his condition. They can’t find anything wrong with him and yet he’s lapsed into a coma.” 

Katherine looked like Joel had smacked her. “Oh god! Ben! Maggie!” 

“Shhhh,” the firefighter calmed her down. “the triplets are active enough; when they get wind of your agitation it’ll be even worse. His family is with him now and there’s nothing we can do.” 

“Do you suppose this has any connection with the murders happening around here?”

“I don’t know. It would explain a lot,” Katherine put her head on Joel’s shoulder, feeling the combined weight of their distress at Ben’s plight. “I think the fact that Ben collapsed without any provocation and the fact there’s nothing really wrong with him is telling. Someone might want to shut him up.” 

“Oh god, not Ben,” Katherine muttered. “he means a lot to us. I can’t bear it if he died like Charlie.” 

“He’s not gonna die,” Joel reassured her, hugging the teacher tightly. “we won’t let that happen.” 

“Damn right we won’t.” 

“You know, on another note,” the firefighter began. “I’m amazed-I walk in here to see the triplets being active under your shirt and you’re ignoring all of it.” 

“I’m used to it. They kick and punch me, I just don’t care too much. They don’t distract me unless they’re doing something interesting. The left one here is being super nice and not being a jerk like his brothers. He’s my favorite.” 

“Is he now?” 

“Well yes. So how soon would we know more about Ben?”

“As soon as something happens. Maggie will keep us in the loop.” 

“I hope he comes out of it soon.” Katherine looked worried while Joel put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder, praying for their friend.


	8. Chapter 8

A whole month had passed with Ben still in a coma. He showed no signs of reviving which confused everyone involved. Katherine and Joel had visited with Steve, all three nearly teared up at seeing their friend looking so limp and lifeless. He had to have a ventilator breathe for him, daily injections of blood thinners, and his lungs were paralyzed still. The doctors made a few attempts to revive him but his lungs couldn’t cope. 

Katherine had written her follow up article with a fresh set of photographs done by Andie. In her article she attacked all the criticism of her, clarifying her view on adoption, said she deserved compensation for her growing the babies and all the medical care required. The gist of the article was that she wanted to help out people and she loved being pregnant so she got paid for doing something that she loved. Andie had taken some great photos of Katherine including a comparison shot of Katherine wearing the same clothes as before, sitting at the desk set. 

“How could I have thought I was big then looking back on it?” she laughed. Katherine could barely see her knees now she was so huge. The babies had gotten a little bigger and they needed to gain weight and mature before she could give birth to them. 

Joel’s favorite picture now was the one of Katherine lying on her back with her belly exposed for all to see. Her shirt was pushed up, one hand on top of the belly, the other on the side with fingers spread apart. There was a picture of her lying down but she had propped herself up on her elbows and was looking at her belly as one of the triplets moved. Andie was able to capture the moment as the right side triplet thrust his head up, making an obvious indentation. 

“I want to make it to 38 or 39 weeks!” she’d been quoted in the article. The cover of the magazine featured the comparison shot-little belly versus nearly full term belly with a caption saying TEACHER CHECKS IN AT 8 MONTHS PREGNANT. 

Joel had framed the first magazine article and the second one. His favorite pictures from each issue had been blown up and framed as well. Katherine was proud of them as she and Joel finally finished toilet training Kelsey. 

“I think I want another baby,” the firefighter told his very pregnant girlfriend. “you’ll pop them out in the fall, recover, and we can have some fun!” 

“Well, I look forward to conception very much. I need to get to the ultrasound where they’ll tell me if I can give birth vaginally. I’m really hoping so.” 

“You’ve been very fortunate in being pregnant both times-no complications, nothing. I’m certain that you’ll be able to pull it off. I think you might stretch into 40 weeks and have to be induced. It happened before.” 

“True.” Kelsey clambered up next to her mother, clasping a hand to her mother’s big bump. The toddler didn’t say anything but laughed happily when the left side baby gave her a gentle push in response. 

“Someone likes you,” Katherine told her. “it would be funny if you two met each other later in life.” 

“So strange!” Joel had to laugh. “Want me to come with you to the appointment?” 

“Sure if you want. I’ve gotten so big I can’t really get up off the table anymore.” 

**

Kelsey was dropped off at her playgroup, Joel took Katherine into her appointment, helped her get on the exam table, then watched as his girlfriend was given an ultrasound examination. 

“I think these babies will be ready for a vaginal birth. All three of them are head down,” the tech told her. “in short I think they will be ready when your body is.” 

“Terrific!” Joel helped her rub the gel off of her body and they got into the Explorer. Katherine sighed happily, enjoying the comfort his SUV offered her. “I can barely fit into my little car anymore, hon. This is a luxury.” she fastened her seatbelt, ignoring the protesting from within. Baby A tried to kick the seatbelt off of him but in response Katherine only pulled it tighter. 

“Really? Want me to take your car from now on and leave you this?”

“No, I don’t have anywhere to go that you can run me to from now on,” Katherine smiled. “we usually grocery shop on your days off, Kelsey gets picked up by either your mother or your sister a few times a week so I think we should be set.” 

The firefighter pulled into the driveway, parked, then kissed Katherine. “You’re an excellent driver but I admit I got a little worried when you wedged yourself behind the wheel.” 

“Wedged? Oh you!” Katherine got herself out of the Ford and went into the house. “When are you on duty next?” 

“Tomorrow morning.” the two of them went upstairs into the cooler atmosphere. The previous day it had been nice and humidity was tolerable so they had gone out to the lake where Joel had started showing Kelsey how to swim. She had taken to the water like a duck and enjoyed splashing her parents happily. Once she was used to the water and taught not to splash people, Joel had showed her how to doggie paddle. 

“The triplets like to swim too,” Katherine had proclaimed, flashing her big belly, sitting in the cold water. The coldness shocked her unborn babies and all three had assaulted her from the inside but the cold water numbed her skin enough so she was unfazed. “they do acrobatics!” 

“With Kelsey out how about you and me have a little time for romance?” Joel made supper for them, led Katherine to the bedroom without delay, then made her lie back on the bed. “I think it’s time you had some care and attention; well, you and the triplets.” 

“Oh, do go on.” Katherine stretched lazily, wearing a pair of maternity shorts and a hoodie that was zipped up. Joel picked up the lotion, straddled his girlfriend’s legs, leaning above her, and after a long kiss, he took the zipper of the hoodie and slowly dragged it down, revealing her chest, watching as the zipper backtracked over the very peak of her big belly, then the zippered ends fell away to reveal the triplet engorged uterus. She had gotten so big and now it was impossible to doubt that there were three babies taking up space inside her. 

“Let’s get them all riled up, shall we?” Joel put some lotion on the bump, massaged it in generously and right on cue the right baby lashed out. The top baby did the same but the left just managed a couple of lazy rolls, unconcerned about what was going on. Very soon Katherine’s stomach was distorted in many ways while the firefighter ignored them, kissing Katherine, making out for several long moments while the babies kicked and punched. 

“Babe, you feel so good..” Joel moaned, giving the lotion some time to be absorbed. When Katherine’s skin was smooth and supple to the touch, the firefighter started working his way down. His girlfriend’s engorged chest didn’t look much different from last time but he teased and played with them then kissed the top of her belly where the recently discovered baby C was residing. “oh god I love your pregnant belly..” 

Katherine flushed hot at his touch, feeling herself responding, getting aroused as he kissed her belly button, poking a tongue in it to make her jump. Baby A on the right tried to kick Joel, the little heel stuck out in a little point. He flicked his finger at the bump which made it retract. Baby B on the left tried to flip itself over but couldn’t do it.

“I don’t think the babies like to have their heads locked down.” 

“Too bad for them. Mom’s the word and they have to be born naturally like Kelsey.” 

“You’re not planning on a homebirth with three are you?” Joel pulled his pants off while Katherine put both hands on the belly. 

“No. There’s a higher risk of complications with these three so I need to be hospitalized for it.” 

“I’m glad.” the firefighter slid into Katherine easily and began to pump her. 

**

The next day Steve was puttering about in the garage of the firehouse, repairing the trailer lights of their boat, when suddenly the fire engine turned on. Thinking nothing of it, assuming that Joel needed to take the engine somewhere he turned back to the workbench. Steve rubbed a polishing rag over the light assembly, reconnected it to the bracket, plugged it in and tested it. 

Several minutes later the engine was still idling in the garage with Joel nowhere in sight. The firefighter went over to the engine as the carbon monoxide fumes were thick in the garage now and saw the key was in the ignition stalk. He tried to extract it but the key was bent so it was stuck into the ignition and wasn’t coming out. The ex navy man tried to pull out the dash panel and disconnect the two wires but the paneling had been glued shut with a heavy duty sealer. 

“Someone means business!” he grunted with a dry cough. Fumes wafted up around him as he remembered that Joel was napping in the bunkroom. Steve began to get lightheaded, stumbling around, putting a hand to his nose and mouth to try to stop the poisonous fumes but it was no use. Dimly he saw the emergency button right next to the door that lead to the kitchen and interior of the firehouse so he lurched forth, hacking madly, then slammed his remaining strength into the button. The alarm went off, he fell to the floor, then felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck as he fainted. 

Joel was awakened by the wailing of the alarm. He dashed downstairs, checked the security cameras, then saw that the garage was full of smoke. The firefighter cut the alarm off, opened up the garage door, then got into the cab of the fire engine. Joel saw the key was warped and the panel was glued shut, then he remembered that Steve was down there. 

“Steve!” he turned on the exhaust fan, emptying out the miasma of carbon monoxide, which revealed his friend lying near the door. Joel wondered why he hadn’t tripped over him the way he was lying but dropped to his knees. 

“John, I need you in here,” Joel used the intercom system. The relief worker for Ben came out, a small and wiry guy fresh from college, came out with a first aid box. The two of them started rescue breathing for Steve, lifting him onto a gurney. Steve didn’t respond properly at first but he started breathing with no sign of returning consciousness. 

“Think we better haul him in to be on the safe side?” John asked. 

“I think we’d better,” Joel decided. “I’ll drive.” 

“All right.” John rode in the back with Steve, covering him with a blanket and buckling him in securely. 

Joel’s mind flew while he drove, flashing lights were necessary in this case, he reasoned. It was always a bad sign when someone didn’t regain consicousness during carbon monoxide poisoning so he wanted to err on the side of caution. Farris had gotten them a good firefighter relief worker; John Langstrom was an eager volunteer who had just graduated a fire science program and just finished his paramedic training. Joel was happy to mentor and train him, thinking that his protege was starting to shape up into an excellent first responder. John had a girlfriend who worked as a dispatcher so it seemed like fate to him. 

During transport, Steve did not move an inch, nor was there any indication that he was returning to full consciousness. John monitored his vitals constantly which didn’t deviate out of normal range at all. 

In the hospital the resident doctor examined Steve, telling Joel and John that the firefighter seemed all right but there was nothing to indicate that he would be waking up any time soon. He was put on the same floor as Ben with security to look after the both of them. 

“I don’t know what to make of this,” Joel spoke to the cop that was on duty to guard Ben against any further attacks. “Ben’s a good guy; he doesn’t deserve any of this bullshit that’s happening.” 

“Well..” the cop brought Joel into the private family room. “we’ve been sniffing on the trail of the nightclub and I believe that we’ve found some significant things. In a way it all makes crazy sense.” he shut the door and sat down.

“Care to clue me in?” 

“Sure,” the cop leaned forward. “the nightclub is the key to all of this. Everyone that’s died has a connection to The Aces. The owner wasn’t the real owner, we’ve found. He was actually the manager but acted like the owner. The people that have died were financial backers of the club.” 

“So why couldn’t they have ponied up more money and made the club a real happenin’ joint?” Joel snorted. 

“You’ve hit it on the head, Joel. The backers were being played; all the profits had been taken in and given to the real owner, a Mrs. Mary Brackett.” 

“The congresswoman?” 

“Yeah. She had the manager pose as the owner because being involved with a seedy strip joint would spoil her good girl image,” the cop smirked. “Patrick would oversee the business, pay the staff off as cheaply as possible then transfer the funds to Mary’s personal bank account. She would use the money personally for whatever, etc. Then the other financial backers-the ones that died and the ones that you saved, started pulling out because they knew something wasn’t up to par.” 

“Sounds about right. So she started to kill them off.” 

Nodding, the cop continued. “I think Beckett got the notion that politicians were above the law; oh how quickly they forget that we the people elected them to do our bidding. We can’t definitively tie anything to her just yet.” 

“No, it’s just like a slimy dirtbag politician,” Joel mused. “have someone else do the dirty work for them while they hide.” 

“That’s a pretty bad job for any decent cop. We’ll be watching her closely I can tell you that much.” 

“I can imagine,” Joel muttered. “should I be worried about my family’s safety? It does seem that she’s targeting the fire department.” 

“No. We don’t have any proof; just suspicion so I am not able to get any guards or relocate you guys. It doesn’t seem likely that Beckett is going to harm your family but I want you guys to be aware of what’s going on at all times.” the cop cautioned him. 

“I understand,” Joel stood up. “anything else I need to know?” 

“Just give your wife my congrats,” they left the private room. “I hear she’s having three babies for a sterile couple.” 

“Oh yeah. She’s gotten so big I can’t believe it.” 

“I bet! My wife had twins and she was huge! Anyway, if I don’t see you again, best of luck.” 

“Thanks, you too.” they parted ways. 

Joel stood at the foot of Ben’s bed, watching his tall lanky friend lying inert and helpless as the ventilator made mechanical breathing noises for him. His family had left for a few hours which was good for Joel; he didn’t want to talk at that moment. Ben’s bedside had a few flower bouquets, a little bundle of balloons along with a gaudy get well card. 

“I never thought that it would come to this,” the firefighter clasped his friend’s hand. “we love you Ben and I hope you’ll find a way back to us.” 

Little else was said as Joel never was one much for words in times like these. He pressed his friend’s hand briefly and with a muttered prayer, he left the room. John was waiting for him in the ambulance bay, recognized Joel’s melancholy mood and got into the cab of the ambulance silently. 

John was a very empathetic guy; it was that sole quality that made him so endearing on the job. He had a baby face which would have enabled him to get away with anything but he was honest on his various exploits. The new firefighter and paramedic was always happy to help, eager to do his share, and really strut his stuff in a humble way. 

Joel saw himself in John and he’d already established a warm mentoring relationship with the new recruit. John immersed himself in books and kept up with the latest paramedicine developments, even teaching a few new ways to start an IV in hard to tap people. The new paramedic had a wealth of knowledge that Joel wanted to soak up before he went back to the station in Bonnevie. 

“You know,” John took his water bottle out of the fridge, got a snack out of the cupboard, and threw himself down on the recliner next to the distraught Joel. “this murdering rampage, attacking firefighters and such will end. It’s not going to go on forever.” 

“I know, it’s just that I’m frustrated with it. There’s no reason to fear that my pregnant girlfriend and 2-year-old daughter aren’t safe but I’m not reassured.” 

“Think about it,” John pulled the cap off the bottle. “this is causing some public alert out there and people will be more watchful. Especially the scummy types.” 

“What worries me is just the fact that the scumbag could come after you or me next.” 

John was silent for a moment. “Shouldn’t we tell the chief that Steve is down?” 

“Yeah, I’ll do that.” Joel picked up the land line phone and alerted the chief who promised to call for another backup worker to come in. 

“We’re starting to drop like flies,” the firefighter groaned, putting the phone back and flopping in a chair. “I don’t believe this.” 

“Hey,” John soothed him. “how about you go on up and finish your nap?” 

“That sounds really good right now,” Joel trudged on upstairs, feeling rather depressed and knowing that a good sleep might be able to help him out. “my poor buds. I’m next, I know it.” 

**

That same day Katherine managed to get herself off of the couch, take Kelsey’s hand, then drop her off at her playgroup, taking Joel’s Explorer to get to her last prenatal appointment. The teacher had another month left of her pregnancy and she had to start doing lesson plans for the upcoming school term which started in a few days. She was glad to get back to work; just lying around the house all day was not for her. Even when she took Kelsey for a walk in the stroller or even walking around the property was boring. 

“I’m so glad to be going back to normal life,” the teacher adjusted the seat back and tilted up the steering wheel so her big belly could fit better. Katherine turned on the SUV, strapped herself in, then had to smile. The babies didn’t appreciate their mother putting anything on the belly but she didn’t care at all. “Mom gets the last word.” 

At least that was what her mother always said. Her belly, from the top, jutted almost ten inches out at the highest point. She drove to the doctor’s office, parked, then managed to get herself out of the car. Once she was checked in Katherine sat down in a chair, not a couch, knowing she wouldn’t be able to get up easily. 

“Come on back,” the nurse brought her down to an exam room. “Dr. Tibbetts will be with you in a minute.” 

“OK.” Katherine sat on the exam table, watching one baby push up, making a little sharp point like it was reaching for something. With a little grin she tapped the point down, making the baby retaliate and kick her, winging her ribcage. The right sided baby pushed against his brother, making Katherine gasp at the force he produced. 

“Well well,” Dr. Tibbetts came in. “I remember when I inseminated you-you were as thin as a rail then! Now look at you!” 

Katherine laughed, making her overstretched belly jiggle up and down several times. Dr. Tibbetts came over, made Katherine lie down, then measured her belly. “Next up let’s hear some hearts!” three fetal heartbeats were heard, each one were textbook normal. “Now, your blood pressure is up a little bit but to be normal; you’re retaining a lot of fluid in there but some will be reduced as these babies are getting ready for birth. The ultrasound shows this baby,” the doctor touched the area where the right sided baby was residing. “is fully head down and he will be the first to be born.” 

“So his head is fully locked in?” 

“Yeah. The left sided baby is also head down and as soon as baby A is born and that placenta expelled, baby B here will engage your birth canal, be born, etc. Baby C is the wild card in this one. After the first two are out it’s a guessing game.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Dr. Tibbetts sighed. “Triplets are usually born all at once which is good but sometimes they aren’t. I’ve seen nothing but normal on the ultrasound but given the fact baby C is a bit underdeveloped he might need to spend some more time inside you than his brothers. His brothers hogged all the nutrients and once they’re gone he can catch up then you’ll go into labor later on with him. Honestly I’d prefer to keep you pregnant with him until he’s matured some more. Beats a NICU stay.” 

“Oh, a possible triplet complication. Well, they have their own placentas so it wouldn’t hurt him to stay where he is, right?” Katherine moved one hand to cup where baby C was residing and was gratified when he kicked her hand. 

“True. Your body would still be manufacturing hCG so it would keep you pregnant for awhile longer. You’d simply go into labor again.” the doctor smiled, seeing baby C poke his head out then bring it back down. 

“Sheesh,” Katherine shook her head. “pregnant and postpartum at the same time.” 

“Not many women can say that! Anyway, depending on how things turn out, if baby C isn’t born with the others I will take that as a sign that baby C needs more time to mature. We call that a delayed delivery.” 

“Whatever works for him I will do. Is he far off the mark as far as average goes?” 

“Yeah, he’s underweight and the fact that baby A was crowding him for five or six months he got most of the nutrients. A few weeks in there on his own will compensate for that nicely. It’s really fortunate that they all have their own placentas. He’ll grow stronger and maybe fill up your uterus.” 

“Does the placenta reattach itself to me or what?” 

“It will when it gets big enough. He’s so small and I know he’ll do great with some extra weeks of care you can give him. The other two are definitely ready to be born any day.” 

“Sounds good to me. I’m what, 34 weeks now?” 

“Thirty five actually. After the 36th week we can wait as long as you want or have an induction.” 

“I’ll wait.” 

“I thought so. Here’s the list of symptoms that you need to watch out for and you can go.” Dr. Tibbetts smiled and sent her to the check out desk. 

After she checked out, Katherine got lost in the maze of hallways, glanced over into the nurses’ station, then heard a little bit of a conversation going on between two of them. 

“So I heard that Linda St-Cyr is working down in intensive care in the hospital now.” 

“Yeah, sweet gig. The comatose people don’t give her any lip,” there was a smirk. “she has been offered extra incentive to keep a few comatose people quiet if you know what I mean.” 

“What?”

“Turns out Linda got a package in the mail the day that firefighter, the tall guy, came in. She was telling me about it-it said that the guy needed to be kept quiet for a few months then they were going to do something with him. Someone’s got it in for the fire department here but the chunk of change in the package was big.” 

“How much?” 

“About fifty thousand bucks.” 

“What did the person say they were going to do with him?”

“I don’t know. Probably silence him for good when the time is right,” the nurse said with a dismissal of her hand. “anyway this is between us, all right? The person with the cash says we get twenty thousand to keep our traps shut.” 

“I’ll do anything for a bag of twenty fucking thousand. New car, here I come!” 

Katherine paled, brought back to attention by one of the babies kicking. She found her way out of the office then got into the Ford with her hand over her mouth. “My Joel can’t be at risk!” 

With her mind boggling she drove home, sitting on the couch, absentmindedly playing with Kelsey, hoping and praying that Joel came home in one piece. Kelsey demanded her mother’s attention as usual; Katherine taught her some basic piano on the little keyboard, trying to distract herself. When Kelsey was taken to bed Katherine knew she was super wound up and tried to relax herself by drawing a nice bath. 

With her hair washed and face cleaned, she lay against the rub rim, a rolled up towel made a nice cushion for her head and neck. The teacher snapped a picture of her in the tub, bubbles covered her breast nicely, and the giant belly loomed up high. 

“Oh my babies,” she spoke, putting the phone away and rubbing the soap bar over the side that contained baby A. Katherine saw the right sided baby try to turn but couldn’t do it. “can’t quite move so well after your head engages my pelvis, right?” the baby retaliated by thrusting both arms out, making a jittery movement that made that side of her belly shake. 

“Ha! Can’t get out yet. How about my quiet one?” the left sided baby ignored her for a long moment. Katherine ran her hand down the side, letting her fingers dig in a little, feeling what appeared to be a backbone and folded arm. “Beep beep!” she tapped on the curve of her belly, thinking that was where the baby’s butt was. “Not going to perform for me tonight?” 

No movement at all. “My quiet one. I’m going to miss you the most when you’re out. You’re the most sedate and I think you’d take after Joel if you were the product of his super sperm,” she tried to antagonize him again but got nothing but a lethargic flutter. “you’re sleeping in there, huh?” 

The baby at the top and in the back, baby C, was being active. He pushed against Katherine’s uterus, stretching an arm and then kicked baby A’s placenta in an almighty heave. Baby A didn’t like that very much, so he kicked his brother. “Well, if you’re going to fight, might as well do it before I go to bed.” she flipped the drain down while the two unborn babies started fighting each other again. It was interesting to Katherine to see them fighting as she put on a towel and combed her damp hair. The sheer intensity made the movements very obvious even under the towel. Katherine draped the towel on the towel rack, picked up her nightshirt then appraised herself in the mirror. 

“I didn’t think I’d get this big almost nine months ago,” baby C’s head poked up like seemed to be so fond of doing recently. “is that a look what I can do kind of thing? Your brothers can’t move their heads anymore.” 

The teacher turned to the mirror on the dresser, picking up her nightshirt and buttoning it over her heavily engorged chest. She picked up the middle button that went right over the highest belly point and fastened it. The belly moved which made the button strain in the hole, threatening to pop off at any moment. Katherine giggled, unbuttoned the shirt, then lay down on her left side on the bed. She gazed down at the belly, watching baby A and C fight amongst themselves. 

“Why can’t you guys be more like baby B, huh? Sleep right through.” another barrage of kicks and pushes followed. Katherine wryly thought that baby B might already have a sleeping disorder or maybe he was more like one of his parents than the other two were. Baby C had the advantage when it came to their intrauterine fights; he was only three quarters the size of baby A. 

“I can’t wait to break the two of you up when I go into labor,” she muttered. “time to stop fighting so your surrogate can get some rest!” 

**

One week later Katherine turned 36 weeks and went back to school, her class giving her a rousing cheer as she walked in. All three of the babies were surprised by the noise and acted up, making such an internal ruckus that the teacher let her students feel her belly. 

She sat back in the office chair, removed her jacket, then told them all to put one hand on so they could see and feel the show. 

“Mrs. Harrison, you’re bigger than you were in June!” 

“Wow, what power they have!” 

“Oh my gosh, is that a head?” that reminded her. 

“The interesting part of this pregnancy,” she stood up, drawing a crude picture of three babies on the blackboard. “Is that these two on the lower sides, baby A and B are ready to be born whenever my body says go, but baby C up here,” Katherine indicated where baby C was inside her belly. “needs to stay behind.” 

“How can that happen?” 

“The babies have their own separate placentas so they can all be born separately, right?” 

“Exactly!” Katherine’s exclamation startled baby B so he punched her, leaving her belly jiggling noticeably, making the class laugh. “Ow! He’s usually the quiet one! But yes, they can be born at any time they want now. But, the doctor and I want baby C to stay behind. He’s got some catching up to do physically-he’s not as strong or big as his two brothers are.” 

“So he’d catch up in a few weeks, right?” 

“Yes, Adam. The other two babies are head down right now so they’re ready. With two or three weeks of baby C growing alone inside of me he’ll be able to catch up to growth rate, go head down, then I’ll give birth to him. Baby A is crowding him back so he’s not getting much nutrients to grow. With less competition he’ll shoot right to where he needs to be.” 

“How do you do it?” 

“Well, after A and B are born we will be watching for any signs that baby C wants out. If there are no signs then I’ll get discharged, the parents get the first two babies, then I go into labor later on. It wouldn’t hurt to keep the littlest one in for maybe a month or so.” 

At the same time Joel and John were attending a car accident scene with several victims. Katherine had forgotten to tell Joel about the rogue nurse and her minions because of pregnancy brain; she had been forgetting several things lately which he shrugged off. He’d told her about the accident with Steve who had not surprisingly fallen into a coma just like Ben had. She’d given him a consoling hug but there wasn’t much she could do otherwise. The firefighter pulled on a pair of rubber gloves then joined John in picking body parts off the side of the road, tossed them in the coroner’s van, then attended to the living.

Surprisingly nobody was really hurt that badly, Joel was thinking as he administered IV fluids to one woman. He swung out of one ambulance, crossed over to the other one and was about to grab the door handle when he heard a screeching of tires and John’s raised voice, “Joel, LOOK OUT!” 

Blackness followed.


	9. Chapter 9

t was dark. Joel didn’t know what to think but all he knew was that he was hurt. His head throbbed and burned, his left arm was feeling tingly which to him spoke of some sort of nerve or muscle pain, and his entire left side felt like he had tried to take out a brick wall and failed. Shouts followed, he was being moved, then someone gave him an IV. He was tagged with an ID bracelet, taken off to X-ray, then left alone in a dark room. 

Blinking, Joel saw a stark white room which didn’t make his headache any better. The paramedic tried to focus his eyes but he was a bit blurry. Joel guessed he’d been given a pain reliever which accounted for the grogginess and fuzzy mind. Before he knew it he was being taken to a room. 

“I thought you could room with your friend!” the irritating transport aide told him as she braked the bed, brought it level with the gurney and had him scoot over to it. He groaned as the motion stirred up the pain in his head and asked for a little pain reliever. 

“I’ll let your nurse know!” she left as Joel managed to pull up the bedclothes. 

“What roommate?” he was hidden behind the guardrails on the bed so risking a nausea attack, Joel put the rails down on the bed so he could look across to see who it was. “Ben!” he sat in the chair next to his friend, steadying himself. “Ben, there’s something fishy going on here. I think that someone is out to get us. I need to take a precaution here-someone’s going to nail us here in the hospital!” 

Ben would have waved off his comment as raving but Joel believed that he was right. Pulling himself up, he walked to the foot of Ben’s bed, noting the cardiac wires from the leads poking out of Ben’s hospital johnny and were connected to the monitor. “Just in case someone decides to turn these off I need a secondary alarm.” he flipped up the cover to the instrument panel at the foot of the bed and selected SET CARDIAC ALARM and for good measure SET WEIGHT ALARM. “In case they try to move you without authorization to do so.” 

The hospital bed could monitor heart rate and set off an earsplitting alarm in case the heartbeat stopped. If Ben was moved or tried to move from the bed the same alarm would go off. Joel went back to his own bed, lying on his right side where he could see Ben better. “I’m in here with you, Ben. I got attacked while on a call. Oh god, it hurts something awful.” 

His phone beckoned to him. Katherine had to know what happened to him. He picked up the phone and called her. 

“Hi, Katherine.” 

“What’s going on? You sound weak. Hard night?” 

“In a way. Katherine, I’m in the hospital.” 

“What happened?” 

“I’m not sure exactly. I was attending to some victims of a car crash and I find myself right in the headlights. Feels like the entire left side of me was blown to bits. I’m concussed a bit and I have to stay here for a bit.” 

“Oh. Did I update you on the babies?” 

“No.” 

“Oh, this happened a week ago and I keep forgetting. It turns out that baby A and B are ready to be born at any time which is good, but Dr. Tibbetts and I agree that baby C needs to stay where it is to mature a little more. It got a rough ride with baby A crowding it.” 

“So you’re delaying delivery of one of them?” 

“Yeah. They’ve got their own separate placentas and can be born when they want to be. Two of them are head down anyway. With another three weeks to a month, baby C will have caught up and I can push him out too.” 

“Sounds logical. I guess when you do go into labor you’ll be monitored in case baby C decides to make an appearance.” 

“Yeah but I hope he doesn’t. Spending some extra time inside me wouldn’t hurt him. Oh, I forgot to mention something,” Katherine told him the conversation she’d overhead at the OB’s office. “It sounds like something’s going on and there is a nurse who is very unscrupulous so watch out. Her name’s Linda St-Cyr and I heard she works the night shift.” 

“I will be very vigilant,” Joel promised her. “those people are part of a bigger operation. I hope that Ben isn’t given any potassium chloride by that nurse. It’d confirm my suspicions anyway.” 

“I just hope you’re not next,” Katherine sounded anxious. “Ben and Steve are already in comas-I bet they’re drug induced.” 

“I could be next but I need to blow that woman’s cover. I won’t sleep tonight.” 

“Do what you have to and don’t worry about me.” 

“All right. It’s late, hon and I want you to take those babies to bed.” 

“Baby B is already asleep,” the teacher grinned as she ran her hand down her left side and didn’t get a kick on response. “he’s the good boy.”

“He’s always been the good boy. I think he just moves around to let you know he’s still alive and would rather be lazy. Go to sleep now and see if you can visit me tomorrow after school.” 

“Will do, honey. Please be safe.” 

“I will be. Love you.” they hung up. 

**

In the wee hours of the morning Joel, despite his insistence that he wouldn’t sleep, was just rousing from a deep slumber. His eyes fluttered open but quickly closed as a light had been turned on in the room. A nurse came in, wielding a syringe, marching straight for Ben. Joel made a little noise like he was still sleeping and turned his head towards them, eyes fully closed so the nurse didn’t get suspicious. 

The nurse, her nametag reading LINDA, didn’t think twice about the second occupant of the room as she leaned over Ben’s supine form. Joel, looking out from under his eyelids, saw her lean down and turn the monitor off which was recording Ben’s heartbeat. The paramedic waited, hardly daring to breathe. Linda glanced over at Joel who quickly kept his eyelids closed tightly, waiting a moment, then lifting them up a little bit to see what happened next. 

Linda pulled out the syringe, opened up Ben’s IV port, then gave him a dose of a drug. Joel couldn’t see the label but he knew without a doubt that it was potassium chloride. Doctors gave it to heart patients to stop their hearts during open heart surgery so it was the ideal killer. Ben would go into cardiac arrest in less than a minute and Joel hoped that Linda would still be in the room so he could catch her in the act. 

Sure enough Ben’s heart stopped and the bed alarm started screeching. Joel shot upright in his bed and yelled, “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU GIVE HIM?!” he slammed the call button, yanked on his robe for modesty and barked out, “I NEED A CRASH CART NOW!” 

A doctor and nurse came in, bringing the cart in between themselves. Joel barked for security which came promptly and Linda was taken away. The doctor slipped a hard board between Ben and the bed, the nurse primed the cart, charged the defibrillator and handed it to the doctor. He put gel on the flat metal surfaces. “Clear!” then zapped Ben. “Give him some epinephrine!” the nurse measured out the dose, injected it into Ben while Joel grabbed the Ambu-Bag and started giving Ben air. 

“Sir, what are you-”

“I’m a paramedic!” he would not be swayed. “This guy is my friend and I won’t see him die! No offense.” 

“None taken,” the doctor zapped Ben again, turning the monitor back on. A faint heartbeat was detected. “who the hell turned this monitor off?!”

“The nurse did! I saw everything.” 

“His blood pressure is 60/30 and rising,” the nurse smiled. “I think we saved him.” 

“Oh thank god,” Joel hung up the bag as the scene swayed in and out of focus. “after losing Charlie two years ago I couldn’t stand it if we lost..” 

“Whoa son, you’re all right!” the doctor guided him back to his bed. “that adrenaline’s running out and you can rest too. Save your strength.” 

“There’s something I should mention… Ben might have been given sedatives to keep him comatose.” 

“OK son, we’ll look into it. Nurse, draw some blood from Ben here and have it checked for anesthetics, barbituates, etc. I’ll write the order in a minute.” 

“Right away, doctor.” the nurse hurried out. 

Joel lay back on his bed with the adrenaline quickly reducing in his bloodstream, leaving him in a stupor. “You saved his life, Joel.” 

“The other firefighter here, Steve..” 

“I’m going to look into his case too. Get some rest.” 

**

The next time Joel woke up he saw that Ben was off the ventilator now and his color was looking better. Smiling to himself, Joel took stock of his own body, noticing that his head was not in pain, the left side of his body wasn’t aching but it sure was bruised, and the tingly pain in his arm was from a broken wrist. Inwardly he marveled that he hadn’t been hurt any worse than before and thought that Katherine would call that leading a ‘charmed life’. 

Katherine. Just the name made him smile. She had soldiered on through her pregnancy with the triplets, bravely encountering each battle as it arose. First off after her pregnancy was confirmed, she had dealt with the spotting, discharge, and mood swings. Then morning sickness or actually evening sickness had reared its ugly head again. There wasn’t anything he could do but support her, sitting next to her on the bed and rub her back, keeping one hand on her shoulder for silent moral support. Unfortunately the evening sickness persisted into the second trimester but only a few days over. Joel still remembered how he felt when she showed him her little belly starting. It was amazing to him that someone only pregnant with two could show so much at nearly 8-10 weeks. 

Of course they didn’t know then that she was having triplets. The top baby or baby C had been obscured by his highly active and temperamental brother so he hadn’t been getting enough nutrition to grow and thrive like the others. Joel had watched Katherine’s figure swell up as her uterus grew up out of her pelvis and into her abdominal region, then grew out to beachball sized proportions. Three babies to nurture and grow for a sterile couple was a huge undertaking but Katherine had come through it well and she was ripe for labor which would occur at any day. 

All Joel wanted was one last chance to slather Katherine’s pregnant belly with lotion and watch them move one last time then he would be content. She always enjoyed the attention he gave her; recently they had taken to talking to the bump to try to get responses out of the babies. It was a funny thing to do but he liked doing it a lot. He’d done it before Kelsey was born, enjoying the interaction and it was a way to help him bond with her. 

The nurse came in to check Joel’s pain rate which he could tolerate, asking about Ben. 

“Bloodwork shows signs of Propofol in his system which accounts for the paralyzed lungs and coma, so to speak. It turns out Linda had been keeping him on a daily regimen of Propofol for some reason. Same with Steve. The doctor’s ordered everyone to stop all drugs on both of them and they’re starting to show signs of waking up.” 

“Excellent. When can I bust out of here? I have a pregnant girlfriend I need to look after.” 

“Oh, congrats.” 

“Thanks. She’s a surrogate and has three babies inside her about ready to pop out.” 

“Really? Three? Oh, is she that woman from the magazine? I saw a picture and my god she’s huge!” 

“Her uterus is the size of a freaking beach ball. I can’t believe it myself. Compared to her last pregnancy this is big we’re talking about.” 

“Pregnancies with one always seem like you’re huge but then you get three inside the lady parts and you’re gigantic. Even driving is hard.” 

“Yeah, she has a compact car and can’t get into it anymore.” 

“I know the feeling! When I was pregnant with twins I couldn’t fit in my car!” 

“So when can I get out of here?” 

“The doctor has to see you first.” the nurse left the room. 

**

That same morning Katherine got up, dressed in the chevron shirt which was rapidly becoming her favorite, and got into her loose white skirt. Something was off and she couldn’t put her finger on it until she had a sudden contraction. 

“Ow!” she grasped the edge of the bureau and breathed steadily. “I must be going into labor.” 

“Mama!” Kelsey cried from her crib. Work still had to be done so she took Kelsey out of her crib, got her ready for the day, then looked at the clock. Estelle was coming in a few minutes to get Kelsey so Katherine began to time her contractions. She had awakened in the middle of the night with some random contractions but they were further apart. 

Settling Kelsey on the floor with a few toys, Katherine checked her phone, brought out a little messenger bag and packed up everything she would need for her hospital stay. She had another contraction, gently rubbing her belly as baby A woke up and started pummeling her ribs. 

“Well I think today’s going to be the day when I have two babies!” the contractions were about twenty minutes apart which was a hint active labor wasn’t too far away. 

When Estelle came, Katherine offloaded Kelsey and asked for a ride to the hospital. “Of course, dear! I think that we can spare you a lift! Are you in labor?” 

“I think I’m starting it, yes.” 

“Well, hop on in then! Do you have a bag?” Katherine brought out the messenger bag and her purse, got into Estelle’s car. The ride was brief, Estelle dropped her off at the entrance, asking for a phone call when the babies were out for an update, then wished her luck and took off with Kelsey. 

The emergency department tagged her with a bracelet and a nurse took her up to the maternity ward. Katherine shot Joel a text message that it was time for her to give birth and she was on the eighth floor. She was shown into a private room, deposited her things in the closet out of the way and kept her phone close by her in case Joel called. Dr. Tibbetts was paged and came right in cheerfully, donning a pair of gloves. 

“You know the drill,” Katherine put her legs up after stripping and getting into a johnny. Dr. Tibbetts quickly checked the teacher over and picked up a little tube. “I’m going to apply a little cervical ripening gel to speed up effacement. You’re almost effaced but not as much as I’d like at this point. You’re 7 centimeters dilated so it’s going to be a little longer. If you feel the urge to push let me know or the nurse.” 

“Right. I’m hoping baby C can stay inside for awhile longer.” 

“We’ll see when we get there. Babies offer no promises. Do you want a pain reliever?” 

“No. I’ve done this before.” 

“You gave birth at home, right?” 

“Yeah; Joel delivered me.” 

“Brave soul to do the things that he does.” the doctor smiled and left the room.

Katherine got up and ambled around a little bit, taking a look at herself in the full length closet mirror. She pulled out her phone, pulled her johnny off, then snapped one last naked belly picture. Baby A, the troublemaker was moving around in agitation as his head got squeezed in another contraction. 

“Oh, god!” she clambered back in bed, sitting up with her giant belly obscuring her lap and her knees. “It’s amazing how much babies can distort a pregnant mother’s uterus!” 

The teacher felt something heavy slide down into her pelvis and instantly knew why she was not fully effaced yet. Baby A and B had been jockeying for position to see who was first down the birth canal. Now the decision was made and who would be born first would remain to be seen for a little while yet as the contractions had to get closer together. 

Undaunted, Katherine lay back and looked out the window, thinking about the day she was inseminated with the three. A surrogate pregnancy meant carrying for a sterile couple and medical reimbursement but with this pregnancy meant complete detachment from the couple who didn’t see her getting the ultrasound, checking in the babies, hell she didn’t even get to see or hear their joy on the revelation that she was carrying three babies after all. They wouldn’t even be present at the delivery of their children, or two of them. Dr. Tibbetts had told them that baby C needed extra time to mature and they were understanding of that. 

It was so unusual for Joel not to be there. He would have been if it was his children-no she couldn’t think like that. Joel was injured and he wasn’t able to make it up which she understood. Joel had been her rock, her lover, and the best boyfriend she’d ever had. After an evening sickness attack he had comforted her by rubbing her back, speaking soothing words and after she’d progressed to having a belly he’d always rub lotion on in the evenings. The two of them had really enjoyed talking to the pregnant belly and provoking responses. Katherine thought Kelsey had been active but the triplets took the cake completely. 

“I’ll miss the sheer size and the movements you three make,” she spoke to the belly, poking it. Baby A kicked mightily, causing one last big jiggling motion; baby B stretched out, his back curving and poking out the side. “especially my quiet one.” 

A contraction hit and another one attacked as soon as the first one finished. “They’re really close together! I think it’s time!” Katherine hit the call bell as Joel rushed in. 

“Sorry I’m late, babe,” he kissed her. “docs take forever doing discharge papers.” 

“That’s OK-” she screwed up her face in pain. 

“Let me look.” Joel glanced at the door, grabbed the stool, then looked at his girlfriend’s vagina. 

“You’re on the right track but I can’t deliver-I broke my wrist.” 

“I’m not asking you to.” she panted. 

“Just remember to breathe,” the paramedic cautioned her, getting behind her on the bed and giving her a one handed shoulder rub. “you can do this.” 

“Damn right I can.” 

Dr. Tibbetts came in then, put on a pair of gloves, then began to coach Katherine who felt one of the baby’s heads press down and obeyed the urge to push. Joel rubbed Katherine’s upper arms lightly, being careful not to say too much in case she shouted at him. 

“This is the part of being pregnant that I hate!” the teacher groaned, feeling the baby crown. 

“Oh, he’s almost here!” Katherine gave a mighty push and the whole head popped out. “Take a moment, breathe, and when you’re ready give another push to get the shoulder delivered.” 

Katherine obeyed her doctor to the letter, feeling the little body slide out of her easily. Dr. Tibbetts clamped down on the cord, cut it, then handed the baby to the nurse. The teacher relaxed back with Joel muttering a little praise to her when she felt another head slip down to her pelvis. Katherine realized that baby A had been born first judging from the total lack of movement on that side. 

“Just relax, babe. You’re half done,” Joel kissed her as she caught her breath. “great job.” 

“Thanks, honey. I must have been mad to do this!” 

Joel laughed. “No, you were being you and I appreciate it. You’re a giving person and I love that about you.” 

“True,” she talked a little bit more with Joel for a few more minutes as baby A was taken from the room, tagged with the parents’ last name and another bassinette was brought in for the second baby. The teacher had relaxed more, giggling with Joel when she felt another little head start descending into her pelvis and slipped down almost effortlessly into the birth canal. “Oh god, here’s number two!” 

“Back in action!” Dr. Tibbetts changed her gloves, got back on the rolling stool, then she checked out the second baby. “This one will be quick, I promise you!” 

“Oh!” Katherine grimaced, giving a hard push to expel baby B. Another push and he was delivered. The baby’s cord was cut, cleaned, tagged, and taken from the room like the second one. Joel thought it would have been more polite to let Katherine see the babies that she had given birth too but the paramedic understood; the parents didn’t want her attached to them. 

“Oh damn,” the teacher swore. “I’m all sweaty and gross after that. I need a shower.” 

“No, there are two afterbirths to be delivered.” 

“No, she can take a shower, Joel,” Dr. Tibbetts said with an ingratiating smile. “it’ll be a little bit before they slough off and fall out. Gravity will help.” 

“Let me know if you need help.” Katherine kissed Joel as Dr. Tibbetts freed her from the wires and tubes. 

“So do you think the third baby needs to stay inside Katherine for awhile longer?” Joel asked the doctor, hearing the shower turn on. 

“I think so. It would be best. If she goes into labor tonight that’s fine but if by tomorrow morning and still no baby I think she can go home. Has she had any issues with postpartum bleeding?” 

“No. When I delivered her at home there was no bleeding apart from the obvious.”

“Good. Well, the third baby needs an ultrasound so I will grab the portable and be back in a flash.” Dr. Tibbetts walked out. A few minutes later Katherine reappeared, looking much less pregnant and cleaner. She got onto the bed in front of Joel who put his arms around her. 

“You said you’d do it and you did it, mostly. You’ve still got one more baby to bake and in a month or so you’ll be done.” he kissed her neck. 

“We can still have some sex and play in the meantime.” she giggled. “Assuming of course that baby C isn’t born tonight.” 

“I don’t think he will be.” Katherine smiled as the doctor came in with the ultrasound machine. Knowing the drill, she covered up her pelvis and exposed the now 5 month looking bump. 

“That uterus will shrink down, much more with exercise; I just want to see how the third baby is getting along in there. I bet it’s happier!” the image came up of the baby. “See the placenta will finish attaching itself to you, fill up even more with fluid, giving this guy a good space to play in. I thought he was five months but he’s actually a little bigger than that,” the baby reeled around, kicking with unbridled joy. “he’s already enjoying himself!” 

“Ow!” Katherine yelped, feeling a very hard kick from inside. “I guess so!” 

“So how fast will the baby grow?” 

“Hard to tell now, Joel. I’d say in a month he’ll be about 8 months along. This little guy was getting the short stick when the other two were inside and now he’s suddenly got free reign.” 

“Great, I’m going to get big again pretty quickly!” 

“Within a few hours you will be generating a new plug, your placenta will be fully attached once again, and the hCG will be surging through you. We just want to watch you tonight for any side effects.” 

“OK.” Dr. Tibbetts took the transducer off of Katherine’s belly, wiped off the gel then told Katherine she’d be in later. 

**

A few days later Katherine was putting her feet up at home, happy to have given birth to two babies and was more than happy to give the third baby a little extra love and growth. Joel walked over to her and kissed her forehead, handing her a mug of coffee. Kelsey was out with her play group so they could have some time to themselves. 

“So how’s the belly looking?” 

In response, Katherine pulled back her shirt, revealing a 6 month belly. “I got some of it back.” 

“But not for long. When do you go in to check that he’s growing right?” 

“In another week or so. My students are looking at me like I’m a freaking baby generator now. I just fire ‘em out.” 

“What did you tell them?” 

“I told them the story I told you. Baby C needed extra love so I kept him inside me and he’s getting what he missed out on. Brothers can be so cruel.” 

“I wouldn’t know but is the baby liking it inside you?” he leaned down. 

“Put your hands on me.” she winked. Joel started making out with Katherine, kissing her deeply and working down to her belly, savoring the moment, then his hand brushed her belly. She felt the baby stirring then it punched Joel’s hand. 

“Still got some power, I see.” 

Giggling, Katherine covered Joel’s hand with her own. “He learned a lot from his brothers before I gave birth to them. They were bad influences.” 

“I don’t even remember hearing them cry,” Joel told her, picking up her hand and kissing it sensually. “isn’t that odd?” 

“No. Some don’t cry.” 

“Kelsey did.” 

“I know! Each baby is different and we don’t have to bother ourselves about them now.”

“It doesn’t concern you at all about the babies you gave birth too?” 

“Joel, babe, it’s not my job to be concerned. I signed away parental rights and custody and that part of the job is done,” Katherine necked him, pulling him down onto her. “we don’t need to stick our noses into their business. They didn’t do it to me while I carried all three of them.” 

“That still bothers me.” he admitted.

“Let it go.” 

“I can’t.” 

“In your job you have to maintain professional and emotional distance, Joel. I may sound heartless but I am doing the same thing that you’re doing.” 

“Fine,” Joel loomed down and kissed a line from the bottom of her belly and slid his hand up onto her chest. “let’s see if I can still make you gasp and scream my name.” 

“I’ll scare the baby.” 

“Good.” the paramedic took his lover and lay her down gently on the couch, necking her while he opened her shirt. Katherine smiled devilishly, moaning as Joel put his skills to good use.


	10. Chapter 10

The day after Katherine was discharged home Joel went into the hospital to check on Ben and Steve. The two of them had been moved into the same room thanks to Joel being discharged, and he was present when the doctor administered a special medication to the two of them. The medicine was an inhaled gas which would get rid of the rest of the Propofol from their bloodstreams and would take about an hour to three hours to work properly. 

Joel was on leave due to his wrist being broken so he was able to take care of Kelsey full time for about three weeks while Katherine taught school. He didn’t mind taking care of his daughter but he was starting to go stir crazy with all the time inside. The firefighter could drive and get around; often taking Kelsey to his mother’s house but he wasn’t allowed to do much more than that. 

“So when will you know that this stuff has taken effect?” Joel asked. 

“About two hours. Mr. Gleason got a lower dose of the medication than Mr. Vaughn so he might wake up first. Want us to call you when he does awaken?”

“Yeah, please. I need them to be up to speed on what’s going on.” 

“Of course,” the kindly doctor smiled. “I heard your wife just gave birth to twins I believe.” 

“She was doing a surrogacy and still is actually,” Joel amended with a grin. “it’s crazy times.” 

“That’s right, I remember reading about it. She had two babies and the third isn’t born yet.” 

“Yeah. The third baby’s making up for lost time though. He’s already getting bigger. We checked on him and he looked like he was on the scrawny side. With both brothers already born he decided to stay behind and gain some more weight before he’s born.” 

“He’s already fully formed so he will make up some lost time pretty quickly.” 

**

The doctor had spoken the truth. Katherine was home with Kelsey that Sunday, doing some abdominal exercises, determined to shrink back her belly and get her uterus back into shape. Her belly had been getting bigger every day since she had given birth which certainly indicated that the last baby was making up for lost time. 

“So what do you think, hmm?” the teacher asked Kelsey who was sitting on the floor with her alphabet blocks. Katherine pulled up her shirt and surveyed the belly. It still was looking a bit saggy in places but hopefully she would be able to reverse that before the last baby was born. She was using her pelvic weights, the For Girls Only ball set, working her pelvic floor so it would become nice and tight again before and after birth. 

Katherine stretched out on the floor next to Kelsey, put her feet on the floor, and lying back, began to lift her torso up and down. Inside her the baby was rocked back and forth in the fluid which Katherine gathered that he did not like from the angry jab in her side. 

“Too bad, baby! About six more reps then I’ll stop!” she told the belly then resumed her workout. 

When she was finished she stood up and began to get supper going. Kelsey was fed, allowed to play around until about 8 PM, then Katherine put her to bed. Weary from the long day of working out, the teacher sank down onto the rocking chair while Kelsey started to snore. Even the rocking motion of the chair made the unborn baby mad as he started kicking and pushing. 

“I got a spoiled brat in here!” she said with a little giggle, lightly passing her hand from the top of her belly down. Getting up was still a process in itself but she managed to get to the bedroom, changed into the nightshirt. She didn’t unbutton the buttons over the belly though, it was getting cold outside and she wanted to keep the body heat in. 

The bright side was that Katherine could lie on her back and not be propped up very much. She got herself into bed, lay back, then studied how much the baby had grown since that Thursday. The teacher had given birth on Thursday to the first two, then the ultrasound scan had shown the baby was a little underweight but still measured around the early six month stage. When she had first gotten home she could see her feet but now that wasn’t possible. Katherine watched as her belly rippled and shook as the baby started exercising his own limbs. 

“Oh, look at that!” her belly jumped a little bit and she could see a little heel sticking straight up inside. “You’re the very active one now, aren’t you?” Katherine leaned forward, both hands on the sides of her bump while the baby swam around like a little fish in a tank. She put a book on her bump, a big heavy one and had her cell phone video rolling in case she caught any big movements. 

The book jumped up and down but the baby could not kick it off fully. Frustrated he put his head up against it so Katherine removed it, passing her hand over the concave indent. “Like Jaws or something. Your head is like that shark fin that keeps coming up and down.” 

Joel’s SUV was heard in the driveway. “Well, I’m nowhere as big as I used to be so I get to use my own car again.” she giggled, feeling a push. “Why don’t you go to sleep in there so I can sleep too, all right? This surrogate needs sleep.” 

Katherine dozed off as Joel entered the room, grinning in delight as his girlfriend slept on, her progressively bigger bump did a few kicks and pushes then quieted down. He could tell the baby was asleep as he changed his clothes and slid into bed with her. The firefighter knew that his world was slowly returning to normal now; Katherine would give birth within a month or so, Ben and Steve would wake up, and his injuries were healing from the hit and run. Joel kissed his girlfriend sweetly then closed his eyes, one hand on her swollen belly. Mercifully the unborn baby had taken the hint and began to fall asleep himself. 

The next day Katherine was awake first for a change. She let Kelsey sleep in, knowing that Joel would be home for at least two more weeks while his wrist healed. The teacher got ready for work, putting on her black maternity pants and the chevron shirt. She donned her favorite green khaki jacket, barely able to button it in front, then kissing Joel goodbye went into the school. 

**

As soon as Katherine went into the school she could detect an air of sadness hanging over the building. Denise called her into the office and told all the teachers that in a car accident the previous day one of their scholars had died. 

“Adam Skillings died last night,” Katherine paled. He had been in her class and was one of the very bright ones. “the Veteran’s day traffic brought out all the nutjobs in town. He had been riding with his mom and sister and they were T-boned by a truck.” 

“So what do we do for the kids?” 

“We’ve got grief counselors here for the week; if someone wants to talk then the counselors will be available to help them through it.” 

“All right,” Katherine adjusted the purse on her shoulder, picking up her briefcase, walking to her room. The baby sensed the surrogate’s unease and began to get agitated, making the button right over her belly jump with a kick. “this isn’t going to be easy, baby.” 

She entered to a classroom full of silence and bowed heads. Nobody was talking at all; there were some stolen glances at Adam’s chair now empty. 

“All right everyone, I know that we’ve all suffered a loss today,” Katherine put her briefcase away then stood at the front of the class, ignoring the pushes the baby gave her. “Adam was a great kid, very clever, very sharp, but we all know what’s happened. I know none of us will get over it quickly which is absolutely fine. We all grieve at our own pace. What I want to do now is open up the floor so to speak to you guys and I want to hear your worries on this. I’m going to give each of you about a minute to talk about how you’re feeling.” 

It took about half an hour for everyone to say how they were feeling. Katherine launched into teacher mode, outlining the five stages of grieving for their benefit. 

“This might be helpful for some but not all,” she told them, setting down the chalk and dusting off her hands. “Adam’s going to be on your mind for awhile as there’s a reminder of him in this class,” she indicated the vacant desk and chair. “you will all grieve at your own pace which is completely normal but I think it might be helpful for me to tell you of my own experience. My parents died a long time ago,” Katherine outlined her grieving process briefly. “it took a long time of accepting the outcome and being grateful for the time that I had with them which helped me let go in the end.” 

“Mrs. Harrison?” 

“Yes?” 

“What do you think happens to us when we die?” there was a collective shudder throughout the class. 

Katherine was prepared. “I believe our spirit leaves the body and we go on to better things. Our spirits can come back and visit us-Adam might come and visit you guys in your dreams. That’s his way of saying that he’s all right and he’s looking after you. You guys are a little young to really understand but death is just as natural as life and it’s a part of the life cycle. Do you know what Professor Dumbledore says in the first Harry Potter book near the end?” 

Nobody wanted to talk which wasn’t surprising. “He says that death is like going to bed after a long day. Depending on when you die, which for you guys would be old age, you would be old, greet death like an old friend, then you depart this life. Just like in the Deathly Hallows.” 

“You really believe that, Mrs. Harrison?” 

“I think it’s the best way to describe death, yes. I mean think about it: if you’re very sick and can’t get well, if you’re very old and your body is wearing out, I think death is a mercy. When you’re dead you don’t feel pain, you’re not sick anymore. You’ve ascended into a spiritual being and you can come back to visit any time you want. I have believed it since I was a kid and I’d never heard of Harry Potter!” 

“Haha, you’re old!” one of her students dared a smile. 

“Gee, thanks! That being said, we will keep his memory alive for the rest of the school year.” Katherine drew on a piece of paper: ADAM SKILLINGS, LOVED BY HIS CLASS AND TEACHER. NEVER FORGOTTEN and had the class sign it with little messages. The teacher tacked the paper onto the wall next to the board where her belly measurements were lined up. 

“Wow, can you ever believe I was really that big?” at 36 weeks she had been so huge with that bloated belly and now she had one baby still inside. 

“When are you having the last one, Mrs. Harrison?” 

“Whenever he wants to be born. This one was left behind because he was so small. He’s rapidly making up for lost time now! Troublemaker like his brother.” the front of her jacket jumped up and down, making the class laugh. Katherine unbuttoned the jacket and pulled it off as the baby’s head peeked up, made a straight line down, then disappeared. 

“What was that?”

“That was the baby’s head. He’s quite active now.” her hand touched the spot where the head had disappeared. 

**

Joel woke up not long after Katherine had left for work, took care of Kelsey and dropped her off at his mom’s, going into the hospital and seeing Ben and Steve. During the night both of the firefighters had roused a little bit but both were still confused and wondering what was going on. Ben in particular had been unconscious for a little over two months so he would need to be clued on what happened.

In the room, Joel talked to Steve, relating everything that had happened. He had only been comatose for a little while so he was easy to talk to and tell him everything that happened. Steve lauded Joel for his instinct, his respect for Katherine went up, and he was getting discharged already. The firefighter welcomed his wife with a kiss, signed off on his discharge papers then went home happily. 

For Ben it would take another day. Joel sat down with his friend, watching him until he stirred and opened his eyes. His gaze fell on his old friend and a smile worked its way on his face. “Hey.” his voice was raspy from not talking for so long. 

“Hey. You’ve been out for a long time.” 

“Feels like it. How long has it been?”

“Two and a half months. So much has changed.” 

“Is Katherine OK? Did she have the twins?”

“Triplets,” Joel corrected him. “well, there’s a bit of a story on that one. You remember she felt a third baby inside her and had it confirmed, and she was 7 months pregnant when you conked out. She went into labor last week and gave birth to two of the babies.” 

“Why not the third one?” 

“The third one wasn’t mature enough to be born yet. It didn’t descend into the birth canal so Katherine is retaining the baby until it gains weight. It was a little runt when I saw it on ultrasound but now he’s making up the difference pretty quickly. They think Katherine will give birth this month or the next.” 

“She must be looking smaller then.” 

“She is,” Joel showed Ben a picture of Katherine full term with the triplets. “she went into labor at 37 weeks,” the next picture showed a very deflated looking belly but Ben could not mistake the fact that she was still pregnant. “that’s just with baby C in there.” 

“She looks really great. She been exercising?” 

“Katherine really wants to get her uterus and belly back into shape. She’s almost there. Funny thing is she does the pelvic floor exercises and the baby doesn’t like that. He gets rocked back and forth like a ship at stormy seas and kicks the whole time.” 

Ben started giggling, wincing a little bit as his collapsed lungs were slowly starting to heal. Joel smirked, putting away his phone, giving Ben a glimpse of the neon blue case on his wrist. “What happened there?” 

“Oh that,” Joel told him the story of the hit and run accident, his injuries, and then the homicidal nurse. “doubtless she was being paid by someone to off you both. They tried to kill me but I got winged instead. If Katherine hadn’t overheard those nurses I’d be comatose as well.” 

“Why would they try to kill us?” Ben murmured, his mind foggy. 

“Because we saved one of those victims. The cops are looking more into it and will let us know.” 

“Cowards use people to kill. The person doing this isn’t very smart.” Joel had to agree. 

“On the interesting side I was getting discharged when Katherine went into labor. All I had to do was run up 4 floors to be with her.” 

“Convenient, right?” the old familiar light was coming back into Ben’s eyes. 

“Absolutely. Now I have to run and get Kelsey.” 

“I’ll be out of here later today,” Ben told him happily. “I’ll need to work on my lungs but we all should be up to speed by Halloween time.” 

“Kelsey’s second Halloween! We’ll have some fun. I hope I see you out of here really soon.” Joel grinned at his friend and left the hospital. 

**

Katherine came home to find Joel already starting supper for her. She kissed him, kissed Kelsey, then went into the bedroom. The firefighter was on alert; Katherine wasn’t acting like herself. He put the lid on the pot to simmer, adjusting the heat then he left the kitchen briefly. 

“Katherine? Something wrong?” he asked, peering into the bedroom. 

She was rubbing off the makeup and a tear coursed down her face. “I’m not all right, Joel. One of my students died in a hit and run accident. I had to explain death to my class.” 

“Oh babe, I’m so sorry,” he took her in a hug with her big belly pointing out to one side. “sad that these things happen.” 

The teacher leaned into Joel gratefully, wiping her eyes. “It’s pretty rare that kids die in elementary school but I agree with you; it does happen.” 

“I told them of my philosophy on death and so forth. They seemed comforted but I got the grief counselors lurking around school for the week.” 

“This really affected you didn’t it?” 

“Yeah. I kept thinking of me and I was barely eighteen years old when my parents died. It was a long time before I got over it and I could see me in every one of them. I did my best but they have to form their own philosophy on death.” 

“They will,” he reassured her. “why don’t you take it easy tonight? How’s the baby doing?” 

“Oof!” a thump from inside startled Katherine. “I guess he’s happy enough!” Joel laughed, taking Katherine’s bump in his hands. He pushed up her shirt in time to see a little bump raise up that was either a fist or a foot which made darting motions back and forth. 

“When do you go and see if he’s on the right track?” 

“Next week. You can tell he’s on the right track; look,” Katherine took the firefighter’s hands and moved them all over her bump. “it’s gotten bigger a little bit since I was discharged.” 

“So it has. Why don’t we start getting supper ready and after that I’ll draw you a nice bath.” 

“Sounds good to me.” 

**

Katherine relaxed back in the bathtub after she’d put Kelsey to bed. By her estimations she was probably 7 or 8 months with baby C by the sheer size of her belly now. She scrubbed her belly down, grinning when the inevitable retaliation started. Katherine put a soap bar on top of her bump, giggling when the baby tried to kick it off. Baby C seemed to shake in frustration, making the belly jiggle, then tried using his head to butt it off. When that didn’t work he turned around and kicked hard, making the soap bar fly off and hit the tub surround. 

The teacher gasped a little bit when she felt a tiny little hand brush against the very bottom of her uterus, knowing that the baby would go head down any day, and hoped that he wouldn’t get stuck as a breech baby. The hand receded and she felt his head touch the bottom which made her relax. 

Before long it was time to get out. The teacher managed to get herself up out of the tub, get into her nightshirt, then start her pelvic floor exercises with her FGO weights. Katherine always enjoyed putting those in; her inner walls seemed to inhale them without any resistance at all. It was like feeding a hungry toddler; all she had to do was lube them up then press them against her opening about halfway then her muscles took over. 

“Well, I have a sexy pregnant woman doing pelvic floor exercises in my own room,” Joel teased as he took off his shirt. “my dream has come true.” 

Katherine pushed her torso off the floor, making the belly loom up higher. Baby C was sloshed around inside and he retaliated again by a powerful kick. “Too bad he doesn’t like it as much as you do.” 

“Doesn’t that hurt?” 

“Sometimes,” she finished her reps then sat up on the floor. “what he really hates is this,” Katherine unbuttoned her shirt over the bump so Joel could see then leaned forward as far as she could go. With the added pressure of her leaning the belly was compressed some which trapped the baby where he was, cutting off his play area. Baby C kicked several times and when Katherine released him he flipped over completely, shaking her belly mightily. 

“Wow!” Joel helped her up and watched her lie down on the bed, watching her run her hands down her chest then to her bump. 

“Yeah. He’s close to full term now and I’ll be popping him out in no time. I’m really enjoying being pregnant like I did before. I’m even starting to miss the bigger belly that I had.” 

“Well, maybe we can get you a fake triplet belly to carry around at Halloween,” Joel kissed her, trailing down her neck and collarbone, opening up her shirt and tonguing her chest. “or a twin one; you’ve already got one in there.” 

“There’s an idea,” Katherine was already thinking along those lines as Joel opened up the button on top of her belly and let it loom tall in front of her. “how’d you like me to be a pregnant witch?” 

“You already are a pregnant witch.” the firefighter teased, kissing his way down her belly. 

“Smartass,” she laughed as the belly jiggled even more. “Oh, I have a little surprise for you.” 

“How’s that?” 

“Go all the way down and pull them out.” he obeyed her, finding a small black string tucked inside her inner labia. 

“Got the weights, huh?” 

“Oh yes. I’m not letting myself get out of touch down there.” 

“Neither am I.” Joel inserted two fingers inside his girlfriend, gripped the string, then pulled them out slowly like Katherine directed him to. She let out a little gasp which Joel loved to hear as he pulled, feeling the weights start to pop out. 

“You can pop the baby out just like these toys.” 

“It’s a bit larger scale, you know that!” the teacher giggled. “You delivered Kelsey so you know what goes on.” 

“I do. And I know that these weights came from a place where I wanna be.” Joel put the weights aside and mounted his girlfriend. 

**

Ben and Steve made rapid recoveries from their hospitalizations though Ben was still sleepy and pokey like before. Joel had invited Ben over to chat with them and have lunch at their house that Saturday and he didn’t like how Ben was acting. 

“You’re still pokey, Ben. This isn’t like you at all. What have you been drinking?” 

“Just this coffee,” he held up the cup. “I get it every day from the coffee shop near my house.” 

“Huh. I want you to stop drinking that. Someone could spike it and after what we’ve been through lately I would put a bet on it. You know someone’s after us.” 

“I’ll follow through on that. Where’s Katherine?” 

“She took Kelsey to her playgroup; she’ll be back in a few minutes. Why is that?” 

“Well, long story short, Maggie and I want kids and she’s too phobic of pregnancy to ever do it so I suggested Katherine carry them and she likes that idea. Whenever she’s ready I’d like to offer the chance to her.” 

“I’m sure she’ll take it.” 

“What’s your take on this? Are you OK with it?” 

“Yeah I am, truly. I’d wait six months just to make sure that Katherine is all right postpartum. She had a flare up of her Crohn’s disease after giving birth to Kelsey so I hope that doesn’t happen again.” 

“I totally understand that one, Joel. I don’t want her sick either.” 

“Why is Maggie so phobic?” 

“I think it’s just paranoia to be honest with you,” Ben admitted. “she’s older than me by about a few years and thinks that if she gets pregnant something’s going to happen or something like that. Anyway I gave up arguing about her giving birth to my son or daughter and suggested Katherine. It seems like this will be the only way we’ll have kids at all.” 

“True. She seems like a high anxiety woman. Anyway, Katherine and I will want to discuss this; we had been talking about having another baby but I can wait. When Kelsey’s around three or four we might want to have another baby.” 

“Sure.” they started chatting about the Halloween party they would be hosting at the firehouse when Katherine came in. Ben asked her about carrying a child for him and Maggie which she agreed to, then she and Joel would discuss later the pacing of their own family. 

“In the meantime, check this out,” Katherine pulled up her shirt to show off her bump. “I don’t think that the baby’s going to be born before Halloween-he’s not even head down yet so I can get away with being a pregnant witch without a fake belly.” 

“Find a lot of costumes with bump room?” 

“No and I’m going to make my own,” she pulled her shirt down and displayed some black material. “I’m still good with a sewing machine and your mom will help me with it.” 

“You’re going to grow even more when baby C goes head down in there,” Joel warned her. “use lots of fabric.” 

“I will. This is what gussets are for.” Joel didn’t understand that so he let it go. 

**

Two weeks later the firefighter was at the doctor’s office to get his cast removed. When the doctor was ready, he was shown into a room and watched unflinchingly as the doctor made two cuts on either side and pulled off the outer shell of the cast, tossing it away. The interior padding was stripped out and his wrist was examined. Joel was instructed to use lotion on his arm and wrist as it had been wrapped up for so long the skin was extremely dry. He made an appointment for physical therapy, had his wrist wrapped in an elastic bandage for support, then went to Dr. Tibbett’s office to pick up Katherine. 

It didn’t take long for her to come out and join him, easing herself into the Ford, turning around and fastening her seat belt. “He’s right on target now; the doc thinks he’ll be head down in a few days, maybe sooner, but he’s a healthy nine month old baby in there.” 

“He caught up all the way in such a short time?” Joel touched her belly. The teacher was wearing a black muffin top shirt that was patterned with witches, full moons, and vampire fangs. 

“That’s a big push there!” she giggled. “Yes, he’s going to be ready to go very soon.” 

“Gosh, I’m already starting to miss the belly and he’s not even head down yet!” 

“Tell you what; while I’m recovering postpartum I’ll buy a fake one and we can have fun with it.” 

“But it won’t move.” he pouted mockingly. 

“Some of them kinda do. Some have water bladders inside them that shift or little weights so they look and feel real.” 

“Really. That’s far into the future right now anyway. We just need to see this baby through the rest of the pregnancy. You know the total time of you being pregnant is 40 weeks today.” 

“Is it? I’d forgotten. They’ve calculated this one to be due in November sometime.” Joel started up the Ford and they went home. 

That night Katherine put Kelsey to bed and rocked in the rocking chair for a few minutes, enjoying the motion but baby C did not. He kept moving back and forth involuntarily and signaled his displeasure so Katherine got up and did her exercises again, further irritating him. When she was done she sat down on the bed, her nightshirt unbuttoned so her belly was fully exposed. Katherine gazed down at her big belly, noting that it wasn’t as big as it used to be with a little sadness but reminded herself that one was better than none. 

“Time for you to go head down, buster,” she murmured. “I don’t like the giving birth part either but it has to be done.” 

Baby C didn’t seem to be in any great hurry. Allowing for the baby’s size when she gave birth to the others, Katherine was technically eight months pregnant and knew that baby C would turn down when he wanted to. It caused her a bit of anxiety because he wasn’t head down yet but she refused to dwell on it. 

“Mama!” Kelsey burst into the room. “No bedtime!” 

“Afraid so, princess,” Joel picked her up and put her on the bed. “we need you to go to sleep so you’ll be ready tomorrow for your play group.” 

“Baby!” Kelsey kissed the bump noisily. Katherine looked to Joel, amazed. 

“Where did that come from?” 

“I don’t know.” Katherine groaned as baby C pushed, turned so his head poked out of the side, then they all watched as the teacher’s belly stuck out even further for a moment. 

“Did he go head down?” 

“I don’t think so. I’m not feeling any weight down there yet.”


	11. Chapter 11

Halloween had arrived at last. Katherine went home after dismissing school in order to put on her costume. Joel had already taken Kelsey over to the firehouse, the cover band was there, Ben and Steve were also in costume; John had volunteered to come over and help out as well. 

“Let’s see if I can get into this!” it had been a half day of school for the kids so there was plenty of time. Katherine put her black skirt on, satisfied with the sequins at the bottom to give her a little sparkle, then she tugged at the waist to make sure it fit correctly. To her delight it was a little bit loose which she loved. 

The teacher had originally wanted a full body wrap dress but Estelle had vetoed that idea, saying it was more practical to have two pieces in case she got into the dress and couldn’t get out of it. She pulled the top on over her bra, smoothing it out. The shirt was off the shoulder, she had the classic three quarter sleeves with jagged edges and silver shimmery material sewn around at the elbows for additional embellishment. There was a gusset at the small of her back for the shirt which would give her an additional two inches if she needed it but she didn’t. 

Makeup came next. Katherine took a brush off the eye shadow palette, stabbed it at the antique violet color, then applied it to the crease, making her look a bit like Ursula the sea witch. “My witch sista from another mistah,” she murmured, delighted. The teacher picked up a green shimmer, spread it over her lids, then applied a pale gold to her brow bone. 

Red lipstick followed, a signature for any witch, Katherine got into a pair of silver spangled tights, black clogs, and she was ready to go. 

“Hmmm,” she paused in front of the bureau mirror, giving Lucifer a stroke. “you’re my witch’s familiar, aren’t you?” he gave her a little meow as she adjusted her hat. “I know!” Katherine pulled up her shirt, took her black eyeliner pencil and wrote LITTLE DEVIL on her belly. With Kelsey’s kiddie paint set she put some red on either side of the words and all around it for effect. 

“Time to go!” she put her ID, phone, and some money in a hidden pocket in the skirt, grabbed her keys and headed over to the firehouse. 

She parked in the back lot, let the band know that she was there, and began to launch into a song which was Disturbia by Rhianna. 

Joel looked up, dressed in costume as a Blues Brother except the Ray Bans. Steve was in his military outfit, Ben was dressed as a merchant marine captain. Kelsey was playing around with her friends, in costume as a black cat. The firefighter picked her up, exclaiming, “Mommy’s here!” 

“OK, this next song needs some audience participation!” Katherine announced, holding up a bike bell. “When I say bicycle three times I want you to all sing with me! When I use this bell you can ring these bike bells along with me! You’ll find the bells over there!” 

The kids all found a bell, some doubling up as the band began the song Bicycle Race by Queen. 

The party lasted until dusk which was around 6 PM. Parents came to take their kids home until finally Kelsey and her parents were left with Ben, John, and Steve. 

“They loved it!” Joel enthused, picking Kelsey up. 

“There’s my pretty kitty cat!” Katherine nuzzled Kelsey, making her giggle. “I say we make this an annual thing, how about you guys?” 

“If the chief agrees then yeah,” Ben smiled. “you’re a very alluring witch, Katherine.” 

“Thanks. See, I did cast a spell on someone tonight.” she joked. 

Steve and John laughed while Ben blushed a little bit. “Oh Joel, you called it right. I haven’t been drinking coffee from that place since you warned me not to. I’m sure someone was trying to slip me barbituates.” 

“Did you get tested?” 

“Yeah I did. The blood test shows I had a very high amount of those drugs in my system which is what caused my collapse in the first place.” 

“Are they arresting whoever’s responsible?” 

“They’re looking for ‘em. Anyway I just feel so much better now I’m swearing off coffee for good.” 

“Good for you!” Katherine trumpeted. “I never touch the stuff.” 

“So when are you due?” Steve inquired, peering at the belly and writing on it. 

“Anytime. You guys can have a feel if you want. He’s moving about in there.” the two firefighters plus John reached out and were rewarded with kicks. 

“Very sharp movement!” 

“You’re telling me, John! He’s fully caught up now and will turn head down soon.” she rubbed her belly affectionately. 

“Time to get back on the road. Kelsey’s getting tired.” the toddler was starting to drool on her father’s shoulder. 

“Great to see you guys! Have a good night!” the family left the firehouse. 

In the middle of the night Katherine woke up with a start, having experienced a dream with her parents in it. They were very comforting, talking to their daughter and radiating such love for her that she was overwhelmed. The teacher sat up in bed, going over the dream in her mind, dashing back a few tears in the process. 

A push startled her. It seemed like baby C was trying to get her attention for some reason. Katherine pulled the buttons free on her nightshirt and looked down at her bump. She felt a little jiggling, a shudder, then had the desire to lay back which she did. With her eyes closed she could feel the baby turning, his head touching the bottom of her uterus, then with a few very mild contractions she felt baby C locked down into position. There were no kicks, nothing but what seemed like a sleepy baby going back to sleep. 

**

In the morning Katherine awakened and looked at her belly. Instead of just being round it was wide at the top and tapered down to her pelvis in the classic pregnant full term look. With one baby she still had a little definition and wasn’t all engorged like a very big circle like when she was pregnant with all three of them. 

Joel moaned a little bit and woke up next to her. He sat up, put his glasses on, then gazed at his girlfriend’s big belly. “Wow; he turned head down I think.” 

“Sometime during the night. Now he can be born vaginally.” 

“Did you ask if we can home birth him?” 

“We can’t. You saw how they treated the other two babies I gave birth to. They don’t trust me not to get attached so they rushed them out.” 

“True,” Joel took her hand and kissed it, pulling her closer and kissing her neck. “today Saturday?” 

“Yeah.” 

“We should talk about Ben’s proposal to us.” 

“OK, let’s talk,” Katherine agreed, shifting so she got into a better position. “when do you want me to have our next baby?” 

“We don’t need to rush. We have one already and you’ll be giving birth to your fourth which is incredible, pretty soon. We can take our time on having our own. I know we talked about another one but it might be best to wait until Kelsey is a little older, say around three or four, before we try again.” 

“With you there is no trying,” Katherine teased. “that super spunk knocks me up really quickly! I know Ben and Maggie’s scared shitless and for the fee they’re offering me I think that after six months postpartum I can do it.” 

“You want to?” 

“Sure! They deserve to be parents. Ben will be such a great dad and the two of you can do dad playgroups.” 

“Sounds like fun. He’s got awhile yet in there I think so I better get to the firehouse.” 

“You’re fully recovered?” 

“I will be in another week or two. The chief wants a meeting with us over what’s going on.” 

“I know how to get your wrist function back super quick,” Katherine sat up on the bed and stood up, her hands at the small of her back. She arched her back, making the belly jut out very far, then took off her nightshirt. 

“How is that, my naked gorgeous woman?” Joel put his hands on her shoulders as he stood behind her, kissing her neck, shoulders, then right back to her neck. 

“All you have to do is masturbate with it.” 

“Oh you!” he goosed her. “Why do I need to do that with you around? You’re more than willing to funnel my big hog with your power packed vag!” 

Katherine started laughing as he got in the shower, joining him in a second. The couple enjoyed washing each other erotically; Joel in the back slipped himself inside her, making Katherine really enjoy being penetrated by behind as he kissed her. In a few minutes he slid out, pinning his girlfriend on the tub surround, licking and kissing her while the water ran down the both of them. 

“Oh shit,” Joel twisted the knobs and cut off the water. “I feel so dirty now..” 

Katherine started laughing as she stepped out of the tub, draping a towel around her belly. “This baby’s going to be born any day now; I can feel it!” 

“There’s only one thing I want you to do for me,” the firefighter was undeniably horny that day and Katherine knew it. She wiped off her face and glanced up at Joel through the mirror. “I want you to slide in those weights of yours and keep them in all day.” 

“Hold that thought, lover boy,” Katherine pulled our her sex toy pouch and showed Joel something new. “I really wanted a better challenge and I found these.” 

“Are those weights?” they were much bigger than the last pair. The new set had weights that were three inches long and about two and a half inches wide, ovoid like eggs and grooved on one side. The weights were attached by black silicone. Joel couldn’t believe how big they were and wondered how on earth something so big could fit into such a small spot. 

“Sure are. The old weights are about 30 ounces. These are 64 and make a huge difference. I wore these last week in class and while they were out at lunch I actually came.” 

“You did?” Joel’s blue eyes got rounder. “OK, put those in and tell me how many times you came while I was gone! How do those fit up there anyway?” 

“Practice,” Katherine laughed. They went into the bedroom, she greased the top ball up well, then put the tapered point to her opening. She angled the groove of the balls so they were facing opposite of her butt, then grasped the second ball and nudged it upwards and towards her back. The weights ascended into her like they’d been sucked by a vacuum. “oh, they feel so good already.” 

“Why are they grooved?” the teacher moved the weights up and down a little bit, feeling herself go hot. 

“They massage my G spot which makes me cum quicker.” 

“Great.. You play with Kelsey until I get back then I’m going to put you through your paces.” 

“Don’t be long.” he pulled on his clothes and started for the door. 

“I won’t.” Katherine pulled on a skirt and top, feeling the weights jiggle about inside her while she moved around. Her pelvic muscles worked harder, contracting more to keep the weights secure while the teacher attended to Kelsey, her mind firmly ensconced in the erotic feel. 

**

“Thank you gentlemen for showing up here,” Farris announced. “we have some things to discuss.” 

“Glad to be back, chief,” Ben sat down at the kitchen table while John sat in the living room. “been awhile.” 

“Two months for you! But anyway it turns out the cops have uncovered a pretty sinister plan in our fair town. How many of you have ever heard of Miss Mary Beckett?” 

“That congresswoman from this district?” Steve frowned. “I hate her.” 

“She is a slimeball,” Joel agreed. “Katherine hates her because she voted down a bill that would have helped schools.” 

“She’s responsible for underfunding our public services.” was Ben’s input. 

“Yeah; she’s not well liked here. Anyway it took a little sniffing around to reveal all of the victims and the one that survived were investors in The Aces nightclub. That skanky cheap little hellhole we’re all familiar with. It seems that Miss Beckett was the primary stakeholder in the club with majority of shares at 62%, just enough so that nobody would be able to buy her shares. The manager that was murdered had been instructed to cheap out and pocket the change, depositing it into her personal account.” 

“I always knew that place smelled of corruption,” Steve growled. “it’s insane.” 

“The manager had been murdered because he smelled a rat,” Farris continued. “we found through his phone he’d been texting Mary and threatening to go public. She couldn’t afford any more disasters as watchdog groups have been blasting her reputation recently, so she had him hushed up. You remember he’d been given the potassium chloride before being sent out on the ice. His heart rate was slow due to hypothermia and when you guys warmed him up you helped the stuff circulate through his body and kill him.” 

“We know that, sir.” 

“Yes Ben you do. So the investors started dropping like flies. Once the last one survived, the police started investigating and Mary got mad so she realized that we, the first responders that we are, needed to be cut out of the picture so her twisted little schemes will work. So the events unfold as such: Ben is slipped barbituates in his coffee every morning to make him wonky and ineffectual at work, put into a coma, Steve was attacked and asphyxiated, put into a coma, Joel here gets injured by a hit and run and he would have gone into a coma had it not been for that angel of a girlfriend of his. She hears two nurses gossiping, tells him there’s a nurse and two cohorts that were disgruntled and being bought by Mary to do her bidding. Joel foils the nurse who sings like a wren perched outside your bathroom window and won’t shut up. The nurses and the nurse practitioner who’s signing all these bogus prescriptions get pinched and slapped in the slammer.” 

“So what’s next, boss?” Steve asked. 

“Well, Mary’s left with one million dollars-it’s all she has left of her personal fortune,” the chief said laconically. “the watch groups vilified her at a public rally, she failed her last campaign, and it’s only a matter of time before we get her. Your signed statements are the gold we need to put her in her place. We just need to send a message,” Farris tossed down a signed document. “I think this would be just the thing.” 

Ben, Steve and Joel took a look and laughed. 

The Aces nightclub stood out in the midday sky, looking dank, desolate and abandoned. Steve got out of the engine, put on his hat, then walked into the derelict structure. “I think this place deserves the kiss of death!” he lit up a match and tossed it into the bar area where old alcohol spills caught the flame and ignited. 

Several minutes later the firefighters had brought the blaze into control and watched the old nightclub burn to the ground. Joel picked up a hose with a little wince, knowing his wrist wasn’t completely healed but it was getting there. 

“Oh, Ben,” he spoke. “Katherine and I had a discussion and we agreed we want Kelsey to be a little older before we add to our family. You and Maggie can have her in the springtime. We want her to heal first naturally.” 

“Really? No foolin’?” Ben spun the wrench on top of the hydrant. “We’d be glad to have her carry for us! None of the hands off bullshit either.” 

“Sure as shooting.” 

“When do you think we can do this?” 

“She needs to do six months so assuming the current baby inside her is born in November, you can take her in May or June, health allowing of course.” 

“Katherine’s got a racket going, doesn’t she?” Steve picked up the nozzle. “Kind of a semi permanent hotel business going on!” 

Ben and Joel started laughing as they began to drench the place in water. Tomorrow a bulldozer would come and knock down the rest of the razed building. The property had been bought by someone who wanted to turn the land into a little animal farm for kids to come by and see. 

**

Katherine waited for Joel to come back but his business took all day; the sun had gone down and Kelsey had been put to bed before he came back in the house. The firefighter took his love aside, told her the whole story of the homicides, leaving her in disbelief. 

“But now on to more important matters,” Joel got in a front-to-back hug with Katherine, lightly touching the sides of her rotund belly. “how many times did you cum?” 

“Twice,” she admitted, bending her neck out of the way so he could kiss her neck all the way down. “it was so much fun with these in.” 

“You’ve been having too much fun without me,” Joel undid the buttons on her shirt, sliding it off so he could kiss her shoulder. “I need to make up for lost time after the way we started this morning.” 

“Oh, it was so hot,” she felt him lean his chin on her shoulder and continue to kiss her chest. “I think we need to go to bed.” 

“We will have some fun there.” Katherine let Joel guide her into the bedroom, turned, then pushed him onto the bed. She straddled him, necking, kissing, licking him everywhere she could find. 

The two of them engaged in foreplay for several long enjoyable moments, Katherine taking Joel’s pants off and he slid her skirt off. Impishly he inserted a finger into her and flicked the jiggle weights which made her moan uncontrollably. The firefighter began to slide them out, making them jiggle all the time to help the teacher cum. He put the first ball in and out several times, rubbing her clit until she came hard. With a little grin Joel put his fingers inside her to feel the throbbing. 

“Wow!” he was amazed. “You are so powerful down there! I know-I’ve seen you birth three kids already but I’ve never felt you cum on my fingers before.” 

“Birthing kids is becoming notches on a bedpost for me,” Katherine groaned, feeling another kick. “my uterus has been a bounce house for a long time now-when did I get pregnant anyway?” 

“You were confirmed in February.” Joel slid into her, loomed up in front of her, giving the bump clearance, then began to thrust away. 

“I’ve been pregnant for just about ten months now.” 

“Maybe this will put you over the edge.” 

When they were done, Joel fell asleep first for a change. Katherine covered him up with a blanket and kissed him on the cheek. “Night, you firefighter. You certainly put out a big one tonight.” 

Joel still had the magic. He was aroused by her expanding belly, was fascinated with what was inside it, and he didn’t care that it wasn’t his. Katherine loved being pregnant so much and he knew it so he supported her in her surrogacy choice. Next up Ben would be putting his and Maggie’s embryo inside her to take root and grow and Katherine would welcome it. 

Two days later Katherine was standing at the window, dressed in her nightshirt as the darkness cloaked the room and outside. Lucifer jumped on the sill and received a head rub for his effort. Baby C tried to escape again, attempting to dislodge his head and break free but Katherine’s pelvis held firm. She put one hand at the bottom of her bulge, rubbing her other hand all over it. “I need to give Ben and Maggie their baby sometime. I can’t go that if you refuse to be born.” 

She felt a kick on her right side where her hand was. Smiling, Katherine poked at the site and further down she felt a push and saw a little bulge pointing out where a fist was. “I love the moving.” she pushed the little fist back inside. 

Just then she felt a contraction and had to smile. “This is finally it! I thought I felt something.” throughout the night Katherine slept on and off, waking when the contractions hit and sleeping when they didn’t. By the time morning came around the contractions were about half an hour apart. 

“All right, Joel, it’s time to get baby C out of my uterus and make it ready for Ben and Maggie.” she announced around 9 AM. 

“Are you in labor?”

“I’ve been in labor all night.” 

“OK, I’ll get ready to drop Kelsey off then bring you in.” 

Kelsey was left at her grandparents’ house, Joel brought Katherine in and they were brought up to the maternity floor again. Dr. Tibbetts came in, gave her a pelvic exam, then said everything was going according to plan. 

It took a few more hours of labor, Joel helping Katherine through it all when she finally felt the transition stage coming on. Baby C’s head slid further down her uterus and pressed on the plug, dislodging it and her water broke. 

“Oh god, he’s coming now!” Dr. Tibbetts rushed back in and snapped on a pair of gloves. With Joel helping her focus and bear down, he could see over her shoulder that the baby’s head was starting to emerge. Like he did with Kelsey, he brought Katherine’s hand down to feel the head. “He didn’t feel that big when he went in!” 

Joel and the doctor laughed as Katherine gave a big effort, making the head crown. She did not like feeling that pain but let it pass while she rested for a few moments. Thanks to all the pelvic exercises she did she had no problem focusing her muscles and pushing another few inches until all the head was out. 

“Good girl, keep going now!” 

“You’re in the home stretch now, Katherine,” Joel encouraged her. “just one more should see you home and safe. You did the hard part and this is easy.” 

Katherine concentrated and gave one more push, feeling the last of the triplets go from inside the uterus to outside. A wail went up any parent would be glad to hear as Dr. Tibbetts cleaned the infant, the nurse took care of it, then it was wrapped up and taken out to the nursery. 

“Is he OK?” Katherine asked wearily. 

The firefighter kissed her forehead. “He’s fine.” 

“I hope the parents are happy.” 

“After all you’ve been through I think they will be,” Joel kissed the top of Katherine’s head again, talking to her comfortingly. “I think that the afterbirth will be coming out soon then you can have a good long rest.” 

“Good.” poor thing was wiped out, the firefighter thought. Katherine relaxed back with Joel holding her, drawing in the comfort he offered. 

About twenty five minutes later the afterbirth was delivered, Katherine cleaned up, then was back in bed. Joel curled up next to her, rubbing her arm like he used to do when she had evening sickness. With her second pregnancy adventure over and giving birth to three kids they’d both had enough for awhile. 

**

Two weeks later Joel was back in the firehouse all healed up and ready for work again. The chief stopped by with a little more information on the Mary Brackett case, telling them that she had fled for a foreign country with her family before they had all the charges ready. 

“We can extradite her of course but she’s still got legal sway so the case would be extremely difficult,” Farris admitted. “the country she’s going to will fight us tooth and nail no matter what the charges are. As long as she’s there and not causing any trouble it will be fine but we won’t be able to give closure to the victims’ families.” 

“Oh man, that really bites the big one.” 

“Tell me about it, Steve,” the chief agreed. “Joel, I have a bit of disturbing news for you.” 

“What is it, boss?” 

“You said Katherine had given birth to triplets, right?” 

“Eventually yes she did. Why?”

“It turns out that Mary’s daughter and son-in-law had fertility difficulties and through the agency contracted out to Katherine their embryos. They didn’t have any contact with her not because they were screwed before but because they didn’t want to involve themselves in kids before they’re born. They’re aloof though not total scumbags.” 

“So Katherine carried Mary’s grandkids?” 

“Yeah. From what I hear the babies will be well cared for so no worries there. Katherine signed off all custody and parental rights?” 

“Yes. It was in full secrecy.” 

“Good, I guess. It’s of no consequence now.” 

The firefighter plopped into a kitchen chair and gave Farris a big smile. “Want to hear some good news for a change?” 

“Sure, hit me!” 

“Well, Katherine has agreed to carry Ben and Maggie’s baby in about six months.” 

Farris looked a little confused. “But Maggie’s still young, right?” 

“Yes sir she is,” Ben told him, taking a drink of water. Ever since he ditched coffee he’d been ‘tanking up’ on water as the others called it and found he liked it more any way. It was free, plentiful, and didn’t give him any caffeine jitters. “but for whatever reason she’s petrified of getting pregnant. Katherine tried to talk to her but she won’t do it. We both want kids but she didn’t want to carry them. I suggested Katherine hypothetically and Maggie was happier.” 

“That’s an unreasonable fear, don’t you think?” 

“It’s a valid one at any rate. If it wasn’t for Katherine we wouldn’t be having any children at all.” 

“I think that Katherine could singlehandedly bring this town’s population to an all time high,” Farris remarked, disbelieving slightly. “well make sure she doesn’t get sick and takes care of herself.” 

“It’ll be a team effort but we’ll get her there. She’s at home and resting now. Steve, she’s been religiously doing those exercises you gave her. Kelsey’s been getting in on the act too.” 

Steve erupted in laughter, imagining the scene. “We could have a toddler bodybuilder in the works here!” 

Just then the alarm tones dropped. All three of the firefighters thanked their chief for stopping by, went out into the garage, suited up, then took the engine with Steve driving the ambulance. 

“Whoa, looks like a big one!” Joel slapped on his helmet and grabbed the wrench from the engine, opening up the hydrant while Ben snapped on the nozzle to the coupling. “It’s good to be back!” 

The first week of December Katherine went off of maternity leave and came back to her students, looking very deflated and proud of herself. She was cheered on, given a few welcome back balloons by generous staff members, and her students were thrilled to see her back. 

“But that’s not all the story,” she sat on the edge of her desk. “I’ve already signed on to carry another couple’s child in the springtime. If all goes well I will deliver not this February but the next one.” 

“Why the springtime?” 

“Because doctors don’t want women to get pregnant right after delivering the last one. My hormones need time to settle down and I want to keep working out and get my body back.” 

“It’s back!” one student sang out. Katherine laughed, flipping up her shirt to show off her postpartum body. Her belly was all wrinkled and her uterus was still going down but the bump was pretty much gone. 

“I’ve still got some weight to lose so it won’t take too long. Thanks for the welcome back, my studious students, and let’s get to work.” 

Just before Thanksgiving, Katherine took the belly measurement chart that they had completed in class, folded it up and took it home with her. Next time she got pregnant she would have to think a little differently to get everyone involved. 

Joel came home to see Katherine’s belly measurement chart tacked up on one wall of the bedroom. With a smile he perused it, seeing the size difference at each month then seeing the last trace which was the full 36 weeks. He could hardly believe she had been that big; that dreamlike feeling had been coming both over them recently. The firefighter accessed the belly pictures in his camera of each month, printed them out, then put them in the center of each trace. 

“Oh there’s an idea,” Katherine had been putting away her maternity clothes for awhile. “I’ve got the diaphragm in if you want to have fun.” 

“You look very sexy tonight,” the teacher wore her robe that wasn’t tied in front, letting Joel see her full chest and deflating belly. “why have you got that on?”

“These?” she asked, pulling a bit at the tape she’d put over her nipples to stop leaking. “I can’t have leakage. With no babies to feed these are leaking left and right and the only remedy I have is to tape them up.” 

“You can’t do that. You could get mastitis or something.” Joel pulled the tape off, massaging her chest.

“You’d think that the tits would stop by now. It’s too uncomfortable.” Katherine let him gently push her down onto the bed as he resumed his massaging. Apart from labor and morning sickness Katherine really hated lactation-she didn’t like to think of herself as a cow. 

“Why don’t you call the doctor tomorrow and ask her for a way to stop lactating?” Joel suggested. “It’s obviously not going to benefit someone and Kelsey’s too old to use it.” 

“She wouldn’t latch on anyway,” Katherine reminded him. “I’m done with boobs in general. So annoying!” Joel smiled and began kissing his girlfriend, making her let out a breathy moan. 

END


End file.
